Powerhouse Parramatta | Moreau Kusunoki Architectes

Powerhouse Parramatta acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which the Powerhouse stands, the Burramattagal and Dharug people. We recognise their continuous connection to Country and extend our respect to the diverse First Nations peoples who now call these places home. In Indigenous culture Country is vast, all-encompassing, and limitless, and transcends western notions of property and land ownership.

Country is multifaceted and includes all tangible and intangible cultural heritage. It means the lands, waters, seas, and skies and everything on it, including people, plants, animals and landscapes. Country is also the song lines, stories, language, cultural expressions and knowledge. It is all parts of Australia: the deserts, rainforests, mountains and plains.

Urban areas, the streets, parks, and the buildings are situated all on Country. Country is holistic and living. Country shapes individual and communal identity and wellbeing. It is the ‘people, family, mob, who walk on Country’. Country is kin. The relationship between people and Country must include reciprocity.

Sydney’s Powerhouse is the largest museum group in Australia. It sits at the intersection of the arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues.

Opening in 2025 and located on the south bank of the Parramatta River in Western Sydney, Powerhouse Parramatta will be Powerhouse’s new flagship. It is one of the world’s most significant new museum projects envisioned as an icon for this culturally diverse and fast-developing part of Sydney. Indeed, it is Sydney’s largest cultural infrastructure project since the building of the Sydney Opera House, providing spaces larger than any other museum in Australia. It will attract two million visitors annually, ranging from locals to international visitors.

Powerhouse Parramatta’s architects are the Franco-Japanese partnership of Moreau Kusunoki, a young practice whose projects for major cultural, civic, and higher education institutions have already demonstrated their prowess as design pioneers. They are based in Paris. On the ground in Australia, they are working with the local Australian practice Genton, which has a small team from Moreau Kusunoki embedded.

Project team: Moreau Kusunoki (Lead Architect), Genton (Local Architect), Jun Sato Engineering (Exoskeleton concept design), DEP – Kinetic Structure, ARUP Building Services, McGregor Coxall (Landscape), L’Observatoire International (Architectural lighting), Lendlease (Contractor)