From the architect:

The Museums Discovery Centre (MDC) in Castle Hill, Sydney, is a site owned and operated by the Powerhouse. The site currently contains six large buildings housing facilities for the display, storage and conservation of the Powerhouse Museum collection.

Lahznimmo architects were engaged by Create NSW (for Powerhouse) in 2018 to design a new 9,000 sqm building on the site, to cater for the storage of the Powerhouse collection and archives; flexible spaces for education and public programs, workshops, talks, exhibitions and events; conservation laboratories and collection work spaces; photography, digitisation and collection documentation facilities; work space for 50 staff and visiting researchers; and object and exhibition preparation, packing, quarantine and holding areas.

The facilities in the building are multifaceted to serve the needs of a variety of user groups including staff, volunteers, education groups, researchers, artists, scientists, industry partners and the general public.

Along with the operational and storage components of the brief, the project aims to increase public access to the Powerhouse collection through a range of spaces for visible storage, research and viewing of the collection, as well as flexible spaces for education and public programs, workshops, talks, exhibitions and events.

The “visible store” aspect of the brief becomes most pronounced within the main entry vestibule - here a 6 metre high and 20 metre long glazed opening allows public viewing into the 3000 sqm Very Large Object (VLO) storage area, housing Powerhouse Museum VLO objects such as planes, trains and automobiles.