A mooted $40 million redevelopment at the Otago Museum could be timed to coincide with the museum's 150th anniversary in 2018, museum officials say.
Construction began last year on the first stage of a $35 million redevelopment project at the Otago Settlers Museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the opening of that museum's Burnside building in 1908.
The mooted Otago Museum stage three redevelopment would add two floors to the museum's Centennial Wing and the museum's stage one and two redevelopment building.
This would mean new gallery spaces and multi-use areas.
Otago Museum chief executive Shimrath Paul said that the further redevelopment was still only a dream, was still at the concept phase, and the time was not yet right "to take steps towards reality".
Museum officials said the further redevelopment would not take place unless the capital costs could be raised from non-Dunedin City Council ratepayer sources, with any extra operating costs also funded independently.
Mr Paul said the Otago Museum's 150th anniversary in 2018 would be a special time, and the museum team needed to think now about celebrating that.
A third stage of redevelopment could well be "the right gift to Otago to commemorate this occasion".
It was still unclear whether the anniversary would coincide with the beginning, middle or end of the project, he said.
If the project was feasible, the museum's team had shown it could deliver, with the independent funding of the earlier stages one and two of the redevelopment and advent of the museum's Tropical Forest.
The museum would remain in the concept phase until it had a "solid, well-developed plan" for achieving realisation.
"If it's not feasible, it won't be done," he said.
In considering the strategic development of the museum, the Otago Museum Trust Board and the museum team had a vision, just as there had previously been about earlier phases of the redevelopment.
Museum organisers were planning for a "vibrant future" and for a time when collection experiences could be improved and new galleries could be created, by bringing more collections from storage to public display for the community, he said.
Asked about the suggestion that much of the extra space would be devoted to hosting functions and conferences, Clare Wilson, the museum director (exhibitions, development and planning), denied this and said the "lion's share" of the new space would be devoted to new exhibition areas.
