Working closely with Arts Centre Melbourne and the wider Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation team, Australian practice NH Architecture has guided the theatre’s transformation as lead architect, in collaboration with the Melbourne studio of international design partner, Snøhetta.

The project has addressed the theatre at every scale – from the restoration of interior designer John Truscott’s celebrated auditorium to major acoustic, accessibility, and technical improvements. The renewal prepares the theatre for the next generation of performances while retaining the qualities that have defined the experience of the Roy Grounds-designed building for more than four decades.

The Ian Potter State Theatre is renowned for the immersive character of Truscott’s interiors. Red carpets, brass balustrades and the cascading brass and gold-leaf ceiling create a heightened sense of arrival and occasion, carrying audiences from the building’s foyers into the auditorium.

Retaining this experience required a process of documenting the theatre’s existing fabric and determining what could be preserved, restored, adapted or carefully reproduced. Developed in close consultation with Heritage Victoria, the retention-first approach maintained the richness and continuity of the interior while reducing waste and avoiding the unnecessary replacement of original materials.

The iconic cascading John Truscott ceiling, made of roughly 75,000 individual brass spheres – each etched with a delicate snowflake pattern – was removed panel by panel and cleaned before being carefully reinstated.

Master gilder, Marcus Walkley, originally gilded the State Theatre in 1984 and returned with a new team to work on the renewed auditorium. They hand-gilded the new acoustic ceiling details, carrying the specialist skills behind Truscott’s original interior into the theatre’s next chapter.

The renewal presented a rare opportunity to improve the theatre’s acoustic and technical performance while maintaining the strength of Truscott’s interior.

Drawing inspiration from Truscott's design for the cascading ceiling, the new custom-moulded and hand-gilded acoustic ceiling comprises more than 20 large panels. These panels feature more than 27,000 concave and convex baubles, which help to diffuse sound across the auditorium.

New timber battens along the rear auditorium wall create a sound-absorbing and diffusing surface to address acoustic anomalies within the room. Speakers and other technical infrastructure have been integrated discreetly into the wall and ceiling linings.

New timber flooring was selected and stained to recall the tonal character of the former carpet. The team collaborated with theatre planners Schuler Shook and Italian furniture manufacturer Poltrona Frau on the custom-designed seats. These retain the distinctive crease and back height of the originals, while timber backs and pans and the harder floor surface contribute to the auditorium’s improved acoustic performance.

For the first time in the theatre’s history, patrons with mobility requirements will have greater freedom to choose where they sit across all levels of the auditorium.

New aisles have been introduced within the Stalls and Circle, while two new lifts provide access to the Stalls, where 10 wheelchair positions with adjacent companion seating and an accessible bathroom improve audience amenity.

Two new rows extend the balcony towards the stage, helping offset the seats removed to introduce new aisles, whilst maintaining the theatre’s capacity of more than 2,000.

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