Winner: Retail interior (small) of the year 2023. Akin Atelier has developed the gallery shop inside the new Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney, Australia.

Located in the entrance pavilion of the Art Gallery of NSW's building of the Sydney Modern Project, the gallery shop designed by Akin Atelier is an immersive resin installation.

Developed with surfboard designer Hayden Cox, the installation shapes a luminous space of shifting perspectives and refractions of light.

Fluid contours of bio-resin wrap the shop's perimeter to form a transparent margin which serves as both boundary and display.

Opened in December 2022, the new building – designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA – is the centrepiece of the Art Gallery’s Sydney Modern Project expansion.

Judges comments: "It is such a challenge to design a space which can stand on its own and break away from the larger space in which it lives. Akin Atelier took cues from materials such as sandstone, a natural material which maintains enclosure and natural light, and stainless steel, informed by the building's structure.

"The earthy hues give a sense of warmth and luxury. The curved bookshelf is a simple and delicate response to what could have been a cold space."

Studio: Akin Atelier
Project: Gallery Shop at the Art Gallery of NSW