Challenge

The Switch House forms part of the state heritage-listed White Bay Power Station complex, which supported Sydney’s rail and power network for over 70 years. The third floor Entertainment Hall was originally built in the 1950s as a social club for workers that hosted concerts, social dances, darts and table tennis. Today, it has re-opened to the public, restored to its former charm with restored landscape murals and original lighting. It was inaugurated for the 2026 Biennale of Sydney.

At the heart of the project was a very practical challenge. Previously, the third floor of the Entertainment Hall was limited to 50 people due to a single egress path. The project unlocks a 200-person capacity cultural venue, enabling the space to host meaningful public events and performances.

Response

Our approach was a strategic minimal intervention in line with Burra Charter principles — doing as little as possible, but as much as necessary, to activate the hall. A quiet hand was essential; we worked deliberately not to overplay the brief, allowing the building’s raw industrial character – its scale, quality, and history - to remain the protagonist.

The approach was to provide an egress path through multiple other spaces and down an original existing staircase- a simple idea that was complex to achieve. And then to build within a space to the rear of the hall a freestanding ‘building within a building’ for the required toilets. This ‘amenities house’ carefully left the original floor intact, floating over it with new concrete pavers and making a single penetration through the ceiling for exhaust.

The collaborative relationship with Placemaking NSW from project inception enabled a shared understanding of the building’s significance and activation potential. The building itself becomes a key exhibit, with interventions revealing its layered industrial history, whilst transforming a formerly inaccessible space into a welcoming cultural asset for Sydney’s evolving western harbour precinct.