Powerhouse in Parramatta will showcase arts by the river
THE Powerhouse Museum at Parramatta is being designed to rival the world’s great science museums and will be at the heart of a new riverside arts precinct.
Confidential
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THE Powerhouse Museum at Parramatta is being designed to rival the world’s great science museums and will be at the heart of a new riverside arts precinct.
The state government will today detail its plans to completely relocate the museum to a dramatic presence on the Parramatta River, complete with bars, cafes, shopping and function spaces as well as a modernised Riverside Theatres complex.
It is understood the government also intends to include a residential presence on the new site.
It will be five years before the museum opens in 2023, with the project budgeted to cost $645 million. Initial work on the site will begin early next year, before the state election in March.
Labor leader Luke Foley has opposed the relocation.
As The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday, a large planetarium will be a key feature of the new space and the government will develop a cultural and arts precinct at the old Ultimo museum site.
“It will be bigger and better than anything NSW has ever seen and will rival global cultural icons such as the London Science Museum and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. “This is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to Western Sydney.”
More of the Powerhouse Museum’s collection will be put on display in the move and it is also expected that major international partnerships will bring the best of the world to Parramatta.
The move substantially increases the floor space for the museum up to 18,000sqm of exhibition and public spaces, from 15,708sqm in Ultimo.
MORE THAN A QUARTER OF POWERHOUSE VISITORS ARE FROM INNER CITY
The museum will feature dedicated “play areas” and education labs designed to give the community knowledge and hands-on learning of science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
The collection will be “interpreted for a contemporary audience” with “immersive and interactive environments with advanced digital state-of-the-art technologies”.
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Trust president Professor Barney Glover said the move was an “unprecedented investment” that meant people could “experience even more of the globally renowned collection of Australia’s first and only applied arts and science museum”. Arts Minister Don Harwin said: “The new Powerhouse Museum will be a spectacular drawcard for families, industry and educational institutions.”