In 2018, Sydney-based design studio Lahznimmo Architects was commissioned by Create NSW (a governmental arts and culture body in New South Wales) to design an innovative new storage facility for the Powerhouse Museum’s collection. The result is a refined and minimal architectural “storehouse” built in shimmering aluminum and raw concrete.
Powerhouse is the largest museum group in Australia. Across its 140 year history, it has amassed a collection of more than half a million objects of national and international significance, all of which are now housed in one location: Castle Hill. Powerhouse Castle Hill is part of the “Museums Discovery Centre”, a collaboration alongside the Australian Museum and Museums of History New South Wales.
The location’s six large storage sheds were reaching capacity and with the construction of a significant new museum home for Powerhouse in Western Sydney (Powerhouse Parramatta, expected to open in 2026), it was necessary to move more items from the Powerhouse Collection to Castle Hill.
Lahznimmo Architects designed a 9,000-square-meter (96,875-square-feet) “storehouse”, a state-of-the-art facility to support the museum’s research and conservation endeavors. The building provides storage space for the Powerhouse Collection and a huge “photographic cyclorama” to allow ongoing digitization of its collection; there are also spaces for educational and public programs, exhibitions and events as well as work areas for staff and visiting researchers.
Measuring 130 meters (427 feet) in length, the building has a north-south alignment; an east-west entryway separates the storage facilities from the exhibition and staff areas.
“Along with the operational and storage components of the brief, the project aims to increase public access to the Powerhouse Collection through a range of spaces,” says Lahznimmo Architects. The most pronounced space is a “visible store”: “Here, a 6-meter-high and 20-meter-long (20 x 66 feet) glazed opening allows public viewing into the Very Large Object storage area,” says the studio. This 3000-square-meter (32,292-square-feet) space houses the Powerhouse Museum’s largest objects, including planes, trains, and automobiles.
The building’s refined, minimal, and utilitarian material palette includes off-form concrete walls, polished concrete floors, and mill finish aluminum cladding. The cool color palette is juxtaposed with the use of wood panelling in staff work areas and a network of slim red ceiling ducts. The entrance is defined by a pink hue inspired by the color of spotted gum tree trunks.
The storage facility’s interior is insulated to regulate temperature and humidity levels, preserving the museum’s collection: “it is essentially designed like a large esky,” says Lahznimmo Architects. “ (An esky is a portable insulated container to keep food and drink cool.) Reflective aluminum cladding covers the thermal insulation, protecting the precast concrete wall panels.
The building’s shimmering corrugated aluminum outer skin creates the appearance of an industrial shed. This sits on a corrugated precast concrete base to protect the aluminum from any on-site vehicle disturbance.
The building’s use of electricity is supplemented by a 100 kW roof-mounted PV system. Rainwater is collected for grey water use such as toilet flushing.
Reflecting on his thoughts about photographing the new storage facility at Castle Hill, photographer Rory Gardiner says: “I don't think I can remember a building I’ve shot that seamlessly blends into the sky and the environment while still having this shimmering kind of presence. And I think it's a really subtle way to use materiality — the materiality renders it looking quite incredible in this subtle way at all times of the day.”
Powerhouse Castle Hill was built by Taylor Construction and opened in March 2024. The building is the recent recipient of the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture awarded annually by the Australian Institute of Architects.
