Winner of several design awards, including the Victorian Architecture Gold Medal 1998, and the Melbourne Prize, the Ian Potter Museum of Art represents a major addition to the architectural landscape of Melbourne, and it has lifted the profile of one of the premier universities of Australia. The gallery is instantly recognised as a tour de force of contemporary urban design and architecture. A lively coffee shop is located adjacent to the Swanston Street entry. From that entry a sculptural staircase leads up through the atrium around which six exhibition spaces are grouped around the atrium galleries, and which frames a major hanging artwork.