With a weekend of community celebrations featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes tours and opportunities to explore the brand-new $44 million state-of-the-art storage facility, Powerhouse Castle Hill formally opens its doors today.

Visitors can take advantage of free, family-friendly workshops, artist talks, architectural tours, and performances by musicians, DJs, and dancers, such as the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, the First Nations group Jannawi Dance Clan, and Jin Wu Koon, one of Australia’s oldest lion and dragon dancing troupes, over the course of two days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The first show in the new facility, Alchemy, which features commissions by First Nations artists from all over Australia who specialize in natural dyeing techniques, will also open on the inauguration weekend.

Powerhouse Castle Hill has been delivered in collaboration with Create NSW and NSW Public Works, and the Powerhouse. The current location for the conservation, storage, and exhibition of the Powerhouse Collection—which consists of over 500,000 objects— was constructed by Taylor Construction and designed by Lahznimmo Architects. The collection will be housed in one place and co-located with conservation, curatorial, and collection management staff for the first time in the 140-year history of the museum.

Built to international museum standards, Powerhouse Castle Hill spans more than 8,000 square meters , allowing public viewing into the 3,000 sqm Large Object storage area that stores the museum’s transport collection.

NSW Arts and Tourism Minister John Graham said, “Powerhouse Castle Hill will not only provide an exceptional facility to care for the renowned and beloved collection held by the museum, but it will also increase the community’s access to cultural infrastructure and arts programming in Sydney’s north-west. Increasing access to arts and culture in the community is vitally important and I’m thrilled to be able to officially open Powerhouse Castle Hill, the only state-owned cultural infrastructure in the Hills Shire which will make a significant contribution to the communities of Greater Western Sydney.”

Together with working areas for academic researchers, scientists, and industrial partners, the new building will offer public access for education programs, workshops, presentations, exhibitions, and other public events. Lahznimmo Architects has already been nominated for a 2024 Australian Institute of Architects New South Wales Architecture Awards nomination in the Public Architecture category for the design of Powerhouse Castle Hill.

The Castle Hill location, which was initially a botanical research station for the museum, has undergone a transformation with the opening of the structure. The Powerhouse began storing some of its collection at Castle Hill in the late 1970s. This space was converted into shared storage for Powerhouse and Australian Museum collection items in recent years, and is known as the Museums Discovery Center. Both are open and free to the public every weekend.

Powerhouse Castle Hill is open from 10-4pm every weekend. Today and tomorrow, free regular shuttle buses between Powerhouse Castle Hill and Hills Showground Metro Station will be running throughout the weekend.