By Basant El-Faramawy
The new Powerhouse Parramatta museum in western Sydney opens to the public on November 7 after a controversial $915 million construction project. The venue has been described as architecturally magnificent with astounding opening exhibitions.
Architectural landmark
Dubbed the "Opera House of western Sydney," the building features a white lattice exoskeleton composed of 1,300 pieces wrapping 30,000 square metres of interior space. Designed by Moreau Kusunoki and Genton, the structure uses 12,000 tonnes of steel to create column-free exhibition halls up to 18 metres high, the largest in Australia. The glass facade and natural light are complemented by a calm colour palette and interior walls rendered with 600,000 crushed oyster shells sourced sustainably.
Opening exhibitions
The museum launches with five exhibitions and a 23-day festival, 65% of which is free. The flagship exhibition, Task Eternal, celebrates flight and space travel across 2,000 square metres with 18-metre ceilings. It includes Leonardo da Vinci sketches, an Indigenous boomerang from the Parramatta region, a 1960s Apollo command module test model, and the spacesuit worn by Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Star Trek. A James Turrell "ganzfeld" light installation crowns the exhibition's tower.
Shopping mall tribute and children's experience
The Mall exhibition recreates the historic Roselands shopping mall fountain and explores the cultural history of shopping centres. The Dark, designed for children aged 4 to 12, occupies a 22-metre replica meteorite where visitors surrender smartphones and journey through glowing chambers filled with over 800 objects, including the museum's first acquisition from 1882, a jar of peas, and a shirt worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet.
Indigenous perspectives and participatory art
Overflow presents a 16-metre high-definition screen showing films by director Ivan Sen spotlighting seven Indigenous organisations caring for water and country, with a shallow tidal pool at visitors' feet. The museum invested undisclosed funds in these organisations' projects, including marine tagging in Botany Bay and carp removal in the Barwon River. British designer Es Devlin makes her Australian debut with works including a giant mirror maze representing "arterial geometries of lungs and trees" and a participatory drawing exercise called Collective Portrait.
Controversies and leadership change
The project faced criticism over the neglect of the museum's Ultimo site, a shift toward contemporary art, and the $915 million cost amid arts funding precarity. A New South Wales Treasury investigation into governance and procurement led to CEO Lisa Havilah being stood down in late August, ten weeks before the scheduled opening.
