The $36 million expansion of the Museums Discovery Centre in Sydney’s Hills district has received planning approval.

The new state-of-the-art facility to be built on the Castle Hill site will increase the museum’s accessible storage space by 30 percent, allowing the Powerhouse Museum’s iconic collection of artefacts to be housed at one site, according to Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes.

“This means the entire 500,000-piece Powerhouse collection will be housed and cared for on one site when not on display at Parramatta or Ultimo,” Stokes says.

The collection includes vintage cars such as the classic Morris Minor, intricate textiles, NASA’s 2011 Curiosity Mars Rover and Apple Computer 1 to iconic objects from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

The new facility will cement the Discovery Centre’s position as a key pillar of the Powerhouse Museum, alongside the Powerhouse Parramatta, observed Minister for the Arts Don Harwin.

“The expansion of the Museums Discovery Centre will increase opportunities for community and education programs, temporary exhibitions, tours and events for the people of NSW,” Harwin says. The facilities will provide more opportunities for research and conservation work on the Powerhouse collection, he says.

Designed by Lahznimmo Architects, the expansion will include facilities for the storage, care, research and viewing of the Powerhouse Collection, as well as flexible spaces for education and public programs, workshops, talks and events. The new building will be built on a part of the adjacent TAFE site along the eastern boundary of the existing Museums Discovery Centre site.

Image: Museums Discovery Centre expansion | Credit: Lahznimmo Architects

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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