NSW Minister for the Arts, Don Harwin, has launched an international design competition which is seeking architects from across the globe to submit designs for the new Powerhouse Precinct in Parramatta, Sydney.
The two-stage competition aims to identify and select an outstanding design team and concept design for a precinct which encompasses an iconic new museum, public space and pedestrian bridge.
The 24-hour Powerhouse museum is to become a new global cultural icon which will be built on the banks of the Parramatta River in Sydney’s newly-designated Central River City.
The museum will house Australia’s largest and most advanced planetarium with ultra-high-resolution 3D video and multi-channel immersive audio and will deliver Australia’s first dedicated learning space devoted to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics).
18,000 square metres of purpose-built exhibition and public spaces will also enable the new museum to take integrated and immersive learning programs to new heights.
The first stage of the competition is an open search seeking Expressions of Interest from local and international design firms. The second stage involves shortlisted design teams receiving a detailed brief and submitting a concept design for jury analysis.
Influential Australian entrepreneur, Naomi Milgrom AO, has been named Chair of the jury for the competition.
Ms Milgrom has an acclaimed track record for bringing future-minded architecture and design to the community and has collaborated with some of the world’s leading architects and urban thinkers through her MPavilion program (regarded as Australia’s principal architecture commission) and the Living Cities Forum (an annual gathering of leading global architects and design innovators).
Ms Milgrom said the new Powerhouse Precinct at Parramatta is one of the most exciting cultural projects in the country.
“I’m honoured to be involved, with many others, in helping to bring this project to reality,” she said.
“The museum will play an important role in renewing the places and neighbourhoods where it will be a focus, but more importantly, it will be a catalyst for imagination, connection and creativity in the community of which it will be a part.”
Ms Milgrom added that the jury’s aim is to identify a design which will reflect this ambition – a design that is not just about a new built form but is about the people which will hopefully be inspired by all that will happen at the museum.
Stage One Expressions of Interest are now open and close at 22:00 AEDT Monday 18 March 2019.
More information on the competition can be found here.