Builder: Hansen Yuncken
Location: Tasmania
Expected Completion: 2010

Located on the side of a peninsular on the banks of Derwent River in Tasmania, The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is the largest privately owned museum in Australia. When MONA opens in 2010 it will accommodate extraordinary and rare art collections from Eqyptian antiquities, ancient Greek and Roman coins, to sensational contemporary Australian, British and American art.

The innovative building covers almost 10,000m2 of floor area over three levels and will include facilities of exhibition space, gallery, theatre, administration and an art conservation area. The existing heritage estate, Moorilla Estate, is connected to MONA through an internal lift shaft and tunnel.

Rondo has provided the MONA project with ongoing design assistance for the wall framing generally and more specifically for the Art and Display walls. The design specifications were very rigid and the axial design loads very high, requiring Rondo’s technical assistance to find a successful solution.

In order to be absolutely confident of Rondo’s design for 3km of wall, Rondo’s Technical Department undertook some advanced FEA modelling and conducted a full scale wall test at the University of Western Sydney’s Construction and Technology Research Group. The testing was witnessed by the project’s contractor, architect, builder, UWS staff and Rondo. The ultimate capacities of the wall when tested far exceed everyone’s expectations, and confirmed Rondo’s wall design met the requirements.