The powerhouse parramatta museum opens to the public tomorrow, 7 November. The museum sits on the bank of the Parramatta River in western Sydney, wrapped in a steel lattice that serves as both facade and structure.
The architects, Paris-based Moreau Kusunoki and Australian firm Genton, describe the building as an attempt to “pioneer a new museum model.” They say the goal was to question the museum format and create a platform that changes over time and through its users.
“We designed the new Powerhouse Parramatta with the mission of calling the museum paradigm into question and conceiving a platform with limitless potential that evolves over time and through its users,” said Moreau Kusunoki.
Moreau Kusunoki and Genton split the 30,000-square-metre powerhouse parramatta museum into two blocky forms. The two halves connect on the upper levels.
A three-layer steel lattice wraps the exterior. The architects say it references the structure of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the industrial heritage and manufacturing traditions of the site.
A lattice that carries the building
The architects developed the lattice with engineer Jun Sato. The structure wraps around the museum’s spaces and supports their changing programme, which gives the interiors full freedom, according to Moreau Kusunoki.
Structure that doubles as both skin and support is a theme worth comparing, and Herzog and de Meuron’s Brutalist-to-timber makeover at Amherst shows how a rigid frame can be rethought for a civic building.
The architects say the three-layer design lets the building be both intimate and iconic. They describe the lattice as the museum’s most recognisable design element, a striking example of museum architecture.
Because the lattice carries the load, the interiors can be free of columns. That matters most in Exhibition Space 1.
Exhibition Space 1 is the largest column-free exhibition space in Australia, according to the museum. It stands 18 metres high and covers more than 2,000 square metres. A mechanical hoisting door in five sections opens the space onto the riverside terrace.
Seven more traditional exhibition spaces sit alongside it. The museum also includes 30 residential studios, several co-working spaces and community learning facilities.
In-between spaces and natural light
Beneath the lattice, much of the facade is glazed to bring natural light into the building. The architects drew on mâ, a Japanese concept for the interval between things, people and time.
“The concept of ‘in-between’, or mâ in Japanese, is central to the design approach in all our projects,” said Moreau Kusunoki. “We carved these spaces throughout the museum’s design as an indispensable factor of placemaking.”
The architects set the presentation spaces apart from the in-between areas. The exhibition rooms are opaque. The mâ spaces are transparent and full of daylight, with views over the Parramatta River and out to the horizon.
The architects expect these gaps to shape how visitors use the building. Talks and events may form in the spaces between the galleries, according to the designers.
Riverside terrace and landscape at powerhouse parramatta museum
The two blocks open at ground level and face each other across a riverside terrace. The terrace sits above a garden that slopes down to the water.
The museum says two-thirds of the site is public landscaped space. Indigenous plant species were planted under the guidance of the local First Nation community.
A rooftop terrace holds a garden and a greenhouse. An observatory with telescopes sits beneath a retractable roof. The ING Garden Pavilion will host talks and workshops alongside community and industry programmes.
The palette runs from the exterior into the galleries. Internal walls are clad in glassfibre-reinforced concrete (GRC), a precast concrete panel with embedded glass fibres, in several textures.
The panels use quartz aggregate, waterglass-finish concrete and hand-applied oystershell render. The surfaces give the rooms a calm, tactile feel for viewing exhibitions.
Net-zero design and the opening programme
The building is designed to operate at net-zero carbon. Renewable energy, water systems and zero-waste exhibition principles run through the project.
It is the first public building in Australia assessed as a 6 Star Designed project under the Green Building Council of Australia‘s new Green Star Buildings assessment tool.
For readers interested in the net-zero goals, Harvard’s wool tiles for low-impact building offer another look at how sustainable materials are reshaping public architecture.
Five major international exhibitions open tomorrow at the powerhouse parramatta museum. The lead show is Task Eternal, an immersive exhibition on humanity’s journey into space. It runs in Exhibition Space 1 and was designed by Chinese studio Open Architecture. Children under 16 enter free.
The opening festival runs for 23 days, from 7 to 29 November. The museum will stage 179 events over three weeks after opening day. The displays include more than 3,000 objects, over 1,600 of them from the Powerhouse Museum’s own collection.
Dezeen is a media partner for two opening talks. One brings together the architects, engineers and builders. The other features Dezeen co-CEO Benedict Hobson in conversation with David Gianotten, managing partner of OMA/AMO, about The Mall, an exhibition on shopping centres and their influence on architecture and retail.
Dezeen will also publish an exclusive video interview with Moreau Kusunoki and Genton. The interview sits alongside four short videos on the inaugural exhibitions.
Genton, founded in 2010 with studios in Sydney, Melbourne and London, says the museum won an international design competition in 2019. The studio calls it Australia’s largest cultural project since the Sydney Opera House.
The museum’s wider renewal costs $1.3 billion. That programme includes the expanded research and public facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill, completed in 2024. The renewal of the heritage Powerhouse Ultimo is still under way and expected to finish by late 2028.
The powerhouse parramatta museum is at 34 Phillip Street, on Burramattagal and Dharug land. The opening marks a major addition to western Sydney’s public infrastructure in the same season the Western Sydney International Airport opened to the public. Visitors can judge the museum’s new model for themselves from tomorrow.
Source: dezeen.com
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Powerhouse Parramatta museum?
The museum was designed by Paris-based Moreau Kusunoki and Australian firm Genton. The architects developed its steel lattice with engineer Jun Sato.
How large is Exhibition Space 1 at Powerhouse Parramatta?
Exhibition Space 1 stands 18 metres high and covers more than 2,000 square metres. The museum says it is the largest column-free exhibition space in Australia.
Is the Powerhouse Parramatta museum designed to be net-zero?
Yes, the building is designed to operate at net-zero carbon, with renewable energy, water systems and zero-waste exhibition principles running through the project. It is the first public building in Australia assessed as a 6 Star Designed project under the Green Building Council of Australia’s new Green Star Buildings assessment tool.
Do children under 16 get free entry to Task Eternal?
Yes, children under 16 enter the Task Eternal exhibition free. Task Eternal is the lead show opening at the museum tomorrow and runs in Exhibition Space 1.
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