First People of the Millewa Mallee
Victoria
Powerhouse Place is the most recent project to connect Mildura’s CBD and community to the Mighty Murray River. This important post settlement industrial site had fallen into disrepair. It has now been reimagined as a place for community, creativity and connection.
The project includes adaptive reuse of the historic powerhouse for events, exhibitions and retail. New buildings contain a commercial kitchen, public toilets (including changing places) and a café. These small buildings nestle around a central green space for performance and relaxation.
Powerhouse Place celebrates the scale, history and materials of the powerhouse building but reflects the need to create new community spaces that are ecologically restorative, inclusive and activated.
The new buildings are the first carbon positive, hemp masonry public buildings in Australia and are arranged to create human scaled, intimate and tactile spaces.
Regional Prize
Nestled on the banks of the Dhungala (Murray River) in Mildura, Powerhouse Place is a compelling example of an architect acting as place-maker. By reimagining a former industrial site, the project is instrumental in restoring the town’s relationship with the river.
In response to a strong push from locals to create a project that benefited them, not just tourists, Public Realm Lab have resisted the pressures to immediately begin architectural production and instead adopted an approach of deep listening and advocacy on behalf of the community.
The result is an assemblage of modest, yet finely calibrated civic spaces. It is an architecture of possibility rather than prescription. And while the colonial history of the powerhouse building is undeniable, the adaption of this structure allows for re-occupation by all members of the community, including First Nations groups who are reclaiming their connection to Country.
In a time of limited resources, Powerhouse Place serves as an exemplar of a different way of working, one where success is defined by the degree of ownership and occupation of a site by a community. It is restrained, yet generous and demonstrates how minimal architectural intervention is necessary to create a sense of place.
Anna Maskiell, Design Architect
Mitch Gow, Project Architect
Philip Ward, Director
Stacey Ng, Documentation Support
Bridge 42, Project Manager
Tract, Landscape Consultant
BSE, Engineer
Tonkin, Structural Engineer
Resonate, Acoustic Consultant
Lightwell, AV Consultant
Ark Resources, ESD Consultant
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
