Perth project was built by Multiplex

OMA and Hassell have completed Perth’s new Museum of Western Australia.

Exhibitions are being installed in the flagship building in the heart of the city’s cultural district, with doors set to open in November this year. Managing contractor on the scheme was Multiplex.

The A$400m (£212m) glass and streel structure wraps around existing 19th century buildings, including some of the oldest surviving buildings in the state.

Dating to 1854, the former Old Perth Gaol is the oldest building on the site and is fully incorporated into the new museum building. The stone for the building was quarried by convict labour at a time when the state was a penal colony. Another heritage structure included in the design is the 1897 Jubilee Building.

The museum’s glass foyer, which was built in 1999 to join two of the heritage structures, was removed to make way for the new project which includes a core feature known as the city room.

Framed by the refurbished heritage buildings, the city room is a sheltered outdoor space which will host various activities, from small gatherings to large community events.

A large temporary gallery space will sit alongside the city room and the museum’s permanent collection, which includes a world-renowned meteorite collection and a blue whale skeleton.