Architecture

The built environment of Heide reflects the site's transformation from a rural homestead to the multi-venue public art museum it is today. A distinctive landmark on the Heide site is the weatherboard farmhouse in Victorian architectural style, the first residence of John and Sunday Reed. Later named Heide I by the Reeds, the house with adjoining land was acquired by them in 1934 and the building modified to evoke the style of a French Provencal cottage. They moved into Heide I in 1935 and their home quickly evolved into a place of creative and intellectual activity for Melbourne's avant-garde.

The Reed's support for contemporary ideas and culture was also seen in their bold commissioning in 1963 of a young architect David McGlashan from Melbourne architectural firm McGlashan and Everist to plan and build a new home for them in a modernist style. Their brief was that the building should be romantic, have a sense of mystery, and over time weather to take on the appearance of a picturesque ruin nestled within the landscape. They also wanted it to become a suitable home for their art collection and to one day be readily transformed into a public art gallery. It was very much intended as a gallery to be lived in. Synthesising local and international design ideas, the light-filled home they called Heide II was constructed out of Mount Gambia limestone with a palette of minimal secondary materials and neutral colours. The Reeds occupied their award-winning home from 1967 until 1980 and the building became the inaugural gallery when Heide opened to the public as an art museum in 1981.

Work commenced in 1992 on a new gallery wing designed by Andrew Andersons of the Sydney architectural firm Peddle Thorp & Walker. The construction of Heide III responded to the building materials and architectural profiles of Heide II. A further redevelopment of Heide III in 2005-06 was designed by O'Connor + Houle Architecture, incorporating the addition of the Albert & Barbara Tucker Gallery. The buildings' black titanium zinc facade strikingly contrasts with the white limestone of Heide II, while echoing the earlier building's modernist spirit. The related Sidney Myer Education Centre was conceived by the architects as an 'art cabin' and built from the same material as the Heide III extension. In November 2009, the new Heide café was completed and opened to the public. Designed by Chris Connell Design, the café sits in an elegant glass pavilion allowing visitors to connect with the beautiful surrounds of Heide while dining.

After many years of capital works expansion and building upgrades, Heide celebrates its thirtieth anniversary as a fully operational and integrated museum site with clear purpose for each of its exhibition spaces. Heide I is dedicated to displays from the Collection and Archive; Heide II to displays from the Collection; and Heide III to special exhibitions, contemporary projects and the Albert & Barbara Tucker Gallery program.