A heritage icon, sensitively adapted for today.
Built in the 1860s to store rail freight, Castlemaine Goods Shed has long been an icon of Victoria's central highlands. In its more recent history, it has become a creative hub for cultural events, artistic residencies and interactive learning, as well as home to Australia's longest-running regional arts festival, the Castlemaine State Festival.
As the festival approached its fiftieth anniversary in 2026, we were asked to bring the Goods Shed's facilities up to date - upgrading theatre systems, improving amenities, and introducing flexible interior elements that allow the space to adapt easily between different events and configurations.
The full picture.
While our design introduced new elements into the existing building, we prioritised the retention of end-to-end views through the interior, allowing visitors to read the space at its original and full scale. New structural elements, services, windows and doors were carefully inserted into the building fabric, while smaller additions - clad in dark materials to contrast the heritage brick and roof structure - were deliberately kept low, ensuring they remain visually recessive.
Where repainting was required, our colour selections were guided by paint scrapes of the originals, keeping the palette true to the shed's history.
New life for old timber.
The Goods Shed's original flooring had warped and deteriorated over its lifetime, and could no longer support the demands of a modern performance space. Rather than replace it, we carefully sorted, repaired and reused the existing timber floorboards throughout - retaining a strong connection to the building's character while delivering a more sustainable outcome.
Material salvage and reuse were central to the project, alongside passive cooling strategies that reduce the building's energy demands. The result is a Goods Shed that still feels like itself - refreshed for a new chapter, with its original character firmly intact.
