“Otherworldly.” This is not a description usually applied to the warehouses, storage sheds and mega-shops such as Bunnings and Spotlight near the new Powerhouse Castle Hill storage facility in Sydney’s north-west. Known as “the big tin shed”, the shimmering Powerhouse Castle Hill designed by Sydney’s Lahznimmo Architects was a big winner in the National Architecture Awards 2024, announced on Thursday night.
Home to the Powerhouse’s $347 million collection of 500,000 objects, the new building claimed the Sir Zelman Cowen Award, the highest award for public architecture in Australia. Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah wanted everything to be on show at the museum’s new Castle Hill storehouse. Credit: Nick Moir Jury member Professor Naomi Stead from RMIT said the building had a “really otherworldly sense because of its milled aluminium finish.
It’s like it glimmers in the light.” The Parramatta Aquatic Centre, by Grimshaw and Andrew Burges Architects with McGregor Coxall, won two major awards: The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design, the highest award in the category, and the national award for public architecture. Built into the slope of Parramatta Park, the pool’s circular “ring” design aims to blend into the Mays Hill precinct and preserve historic views towards the World Heritage-listed Old Government House.
The jury said Parramatta Aquatic Centre effortlessly integrated pools, a gym, a cafe, change rooms and multipurpose rooms. It was a masterf.
