The Pavilion Performing Arts Centre (formally The Sutherland Entertainment Centre) holds an important place in the collective memory of the Sutherland community. Built in the 1970s primarily as a musical venue, the former entertainment centre relied on an inward focus on the auditorium and narrow public address to Eton Street. This was also long before the development of Peace Park to the buildings North. Our design concept had to the goal of adapting a 40+ year old building into a modern-day public venue, that would cater to a diversity of cultural and technical needs. Designing in a more open outlook that offered more to its community, both in terms of its relationship with its immediate surrounds and in its spatial flexibility.

The design introduces a more engaging address for the performing arts centre. CHROFI recognising the potential of Peace Park to be the 'Civic Heart' of Sutherland and affirms that potential by creating a friendlier and more integrated relationship between the pavilion and the park.

A new verandah along the Northern edge of the building encourages an active interface between Peace Park and the foyer building. This zone also helps to mediate the level of change between park and building, providing an at-grade connection between Merton Street and Eton Street which, previously was only available through the centre itself. Additionally, the new verandah activates the parks Southern edge via a new cafe offering a more visible and accessible entry for the performing arts centre.

The new foyer works as an extension of the verandah space, is conceived as a 'park pavilion'. The structure is a composed grid of mass laminated timber, which works to mirror the geometry and robustness of the existing masonry building. As the hardest working space within the re-imagined centre, the foyer serves its traditional role as a gathering place at performance times as well as a new standalone performance space, now providing a venue for a diverse range of community uses from banquets and exhibitions, to intimate musical performances.

The process of unlocking spatial potential done for the building and the park was continue with opportunities to re-use and adapt the original building’s current fabric. We retained the existing black box space and administration building and re-purposed them for foyer, meeting and rehearsal uses. The structure and facade on the north side of the building has also been adapted for new uses. Connected by the existing egress stair, a view of the park can be seen from the cafe on the ground floor, as well as administration spaces and green room on Level 1. The auditorium also retains much of its surrounding envelope but becomes an entirely new and lively space. The existing flat floor has been transformed into a more immersive tiered seating arrangement and all acoustics, accessibility and back of house functions revitalised to provide a venue with broad appeal for audiences and performers alike.