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Given its location, on the side of a hill, many of the services, such as deliveries, are buried within it allowing the form of the museum its clarity.

“We also elevated the ground plain above the terrain as it’s located in a flood overflow zone and hence a relatively small footprint at ground level,” says Denton.

Each of the four elevations are also different.

One is constructed in perforated Corten steel that evokes the Indigenous works that were previously displayed in the Kaiela Art Gallery (formerly a separate building in the middle of town), while another facade is made from Zinc.

And at the base of each wall is a turned-up edge that loosely references the ubiquitous verandah that often appears in this rural setting, shading both shopfronts and homesteads.

Lifting up the museum and integrating the building into what is referred to as the “Art Hill” also increases the outdoor spaces and new steel public amenities below.

DCM also used the rise of the land to create broad steps that function as an amphitheatre, particularly during the warmer months of the year.

Each facade is also treated as a means of signposting, with the entry gallery, visitor’s information centre and the museum’s shop located at ground level.

The Kaiela Art Gallery can also be found here, along with a modest residence for visiting artists.

And on the first floor and second floors, via a sharp steel staircase, are the gallery spaces, with glass vitrines in the atrium displaying the museum’s important collection of ceramics, both past and contemporary.

For those who need to take a pause between galleries there’s also a lounge area framed by a large picture window that offers views of the lake and the forest beyond.

“We kept the palette of materials fairly simple,” says Denton, pointing out the pristine white walls, the polished concrete floors and the striking steel staircase, with its markings showing how the steel was processed.

On the top level, leading to a terrace, is the main function space, where events and exhibition openings can take place. For Denton, when it comes to museums (and numerous other public buildings conceived by the practice), there’s a need for simplicity and functionality that caters for both large and smaller exhibitions.

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While it may be intriguing to walk into a museum or gallery with sloping walls and floors, as in the case of Zaha Hadid’s museum in Rome, according to Denton, “It’s imperative to be able to display work in a manner that can be fully appreciated by visitors.”

“You also need to think about the curators and making their tasks as easy as possible. It’s also about curating the right amount of light,” adds Denton, referring to the slithers of space between each of the four facades that allowed for diffused, but controlled sunlight.