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 Castle Hill Expansion

Photography Commission

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

Stories

Powerhouse Castle Hill Expansion

Photography Commission

A photo story by architectural photographer Rory Gardiner

Powerhouse commissioned architectural photographer Rory Gardiner to create a series of images of the expansion of Powerhouse Castle Hill. A new state-of-the-art building houses Powerhouse collections and supports research, conservation and programs.

Powerhouse Castle Hill was designed by Lahznimmo Architects to foreground the natural environment and history of the site, and constructed by Taylor Construction Group The expansion of Powerhouse Castle Hill increases collection storage space by 30 per cent, provides new office space for staff and delivers state-of-the-art facilities for the preservation and conservation of the Powerhouse Collection.

Powerhouse Castle Hill is one of the significant pieces of cultural infrastructure in the Hills Shire local government area and will make a significant contribution to the community. The building will open on Saturday 23 March 2024 featuring the premiere of First Nations exhibition Alchemy, performances, artists talks, architectural tours and workshops.

‘The intersecting history of photography and architecture permeates my thinking as I photograph. I hope these images will, in some way, contribute to a much wider archive of the architectural landscape.’

Rory Gardiner

A two-storey entrance way made of concrete set into the side of a large building with an angled roof.

A large entrance way made of concrete, leading to exhibition space.

A row of four windows set at a 45 degree angle in the metal clad wall of a building.

‘A core part of my process is to find a balance for the geometric relationships of a building. This assigns primacy to the structural components of the image so it can become the canvas for the natural elements at play: the light, materiality and the human interaction.’

Rory Gardiner

A view of eucalyptus trees through floor-to-ceiling windows of an exhibition space.

Eucalyptus trees in front of a large building with floor-to-ceiling windows on the ground floor.

A large room with a concrete floor, the wall on the left is glass and the back wall is patterned concrete.

‘What I find interesting about documenting a building in its completed state before the keys are handed over is the forward-looking nature of the image. It's a moment full of anticipation about how the building will evolve.’

Rory Gardiner

A huge concrete space with many columns. At the far end is a folding door.

A huge concrete space with two large columns in the middle and a large folding door on the right.

‘I’m conscious a function of my work is to relay the building to the international Architecture community. It’s a community that on the whole, experiences architecture through images and the media so I feel that responsibility when I work.’

Rory Gardiner

‘I’ve always enjoyed the scale of large, institutional buildings. There is a formal significance to the way large structures exist within a site that lends itself to my natural default with a camera: to explore geometric and topographical relationships.’

Rory Gardiner