Powerhouse Castle Hill was awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture on Thursday 7 November at the 2024 National Architecture Awards.

Designed by Sydney-based Lahznimmo Architects, built by Australian construction company Taylor and delivered in partnership with Create NSW, Powerhouse Castle Hill is the new state-of-the-art facility for the Powerhouse Collection which opened in March 2024.

“The material palette, both inside and out, is minimal and elemental, with the honest expression of materials on display to showcase their natural properties – including mill finish aluminium, off-form concrete walls and polished concrete floors,” says Lahznimmo Architects Director Andrew Nimmo.

“We aimed for ‘beautiful utility’; a building with a calmness and cool precision, that would protect the Powerhouse Collection and functionally serve the activities within.”

Presented by the Australian Institute of Architects, the prestigious public architecture award recognises Powerhouse Castle Hill as “an exemplar of architecture as an interface between the public and research, preservation and curation”.

The Jury citation also described the building as one which “invites curiosity – placing architecture as a vehicle for experience, both fascinating and cerebral”.

The $44 million development at Castle Hill is part of a $1.3 billion transformation of Powerhouse, led by the creation of Powerhouse Parramatta, one of the world’s most significant new museum developments, set open in 2026.

Powerhouse Castle Hill represents a reshaping of museum practice to increase accessibility to collections and connection to local communities, allowing visitors to enjoy one of Australia’s most important applied arts and sciences collection of over half a million objects.

At more than 8,000sqm, Powerhouse Castle Hill has been constructed to international museum standards and features a visible store, allowing public viewing into the 3,000 sqm Very Large Object storage area holding the museum’s transport collection.

It also features one of the southern hemisphere's largest photographic cycloramas that can carry objects up to 4 tonnes and enable the ongoing digitisation of the collection.

Powerhouse Castle Hill was also awarded the 2024 New South Wales Architecture Award for Public Architecture earlier this year.

“We are thrilled that Powerhouse Castle Hill has been awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Award, the highest prize in Australian architecture. It sets a new international benchmark in bringing research, collection, conservation and community together in new ways, designed specifically for the Powerhouse Collection,” says Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah.

Powerhouse Castle Hill is open every weekend 10am–4pm.