Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Powerhouse Renewal

A transformative renewal program across four sites

We Rise

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse-1 Mission Launch to the ISS

An initiative of the Powerhouse: Future Space program

2024

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

Sydney Design Week

Across Sydney12—24 Sep

2023

Program Sydney Design Week 2023 Eco Systems

Australian PlantBank

Tour

This tour of the Australian PlantBank led by Peter Titmuss, architect and principal at BVN and John Siemon, director of horticulture and living collections at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, will highlight the unique design of the PlantBank and its science conservation programs.

PlantBank is the award-winning home of plant conservation research and germplasm collection and storage in New South Wales. The seed and tissue culture collections provide an insurance policy against extinction of native plants in the wild.

BVN designed the building to integrate with and respond to the landscape, environment and operational needs. It was recognised with the RAIA National Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2014. The surrounding landscaping designed by 360 Degrees Landscape Architects and the horticultural and botanical specialists at The Australian Botanic Garden presents a unified and accessible view of conservation science to visitors. There are three gardens in this landscape: the courtyard gardens set within the curving forms of the building, the bushland transition ‘meadow gardens,’ and the surrounding Cumberland Plain Woodland. The PlantBank gardens provide a direct link to the ecosystems that occur just beyond the footprint of the institute.

Speakers

John Siemon is a horticultural scientist and the director of horticulture Botanic Gardens ofSydney where he leads a passionate team responsible for projects across more than 730 hectares of public greenspace. One of his greatest achievements has been helping to establish the Australian PlantBank, home to more than 100 million Australian plant seeds. He was responsible for securing $19.8 million funding which has helped transform the facility into a vital insurance policy against the extinction of native plants in the wild.

Peter Titmuss is a principal at BVN, where he champions the architecture firm’s weekly design conversations through which the wider practice is invited to consult on live projects, enabling cross sector and whole of practice collaboration. Contributing his time, enthusiasm and knowledge to the broader industry, Titmuss is an active participant on the NSW Government Architect’s State Design Review Panel.