The windowless concrete storage building is constructed largely from patterned, precast concrete panels.
Senior Architect May + Russell Architects, Yuri Leong Maish, says the form of this building is symbolic of its function as the keeper of the nation's collective memory.
"We really wanted to express, through form and colour, the passage of time," she says.
Because this 'storage box' faces a key commuter corridor connecting Canberra's northern suburbs to the city, Yuri and her colleagues were particularly keen that the building engage with the public as they passed by in the morning and evening on their way to and from work.
The three-dimensional precast concrete façade presents as a seemingly random pattern of raise, angular surfaces that, in turn, create a changing pattern of shade as the sun tracks across the sky.
Coloured, anodised aluminium fins fixed to the inside edge of the raised concrete surfaces reinforce the notion of time passing. From the southern end of the building, the fins are orange in colour; from the north, a deeper raspberry tone - representing both the colours of dusk and dawn, and the earthy tones of our ancient land.
The patterned, concrete panels also work to break down the visual mass of the three-storey building.
Each measuring approximately six by three metres, the panels are stacked vertically, three to a stack.
In total, there are 210 precast panels fixed to three sides of the building (the fourth elevation form one side of the internal spine). Nine different moulds were used to cast the panels.
We wanted variety while at the same time minimising the number of forms used in the precasting process," says Yuri.