As a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site in the heart of Sydney, the Hyde Park Barracks is a significant touchstone to Australia’s early colonial history. Originally built to house convicts, the imposing yet restrained red brick building now serves as an immersive museum – a place for visitors to engage with the building’s chequered past, and Sydney’s broader historical narrative.

As one of 20 UNESCO sites in Australia, preserving and elevating the heritage building and its significant archaeological collections was paramount to the lighting approach – balancing the project’s visual objectives while addressing the strict conservation requirements of the significant site.

Standing proudly at the southern end of Sydney’s Macquarie Street, the striking façade of the three-storey building, designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, is celebrated through light. iGuzzini Light Up Earth LEDs are recessed around the building’s perimeter, illuminating the façade’s vertical expression from close-range light sources. With staged wall wash lensing optics, the lights are meticulously located to enable night-time events to be held in the Barrack’s adjacent courtyard without any visible glare. The lighting approach enhances the solidity and stature of the architecture, while highlighting the grain of its historic and well-preserved red-brick walls, archways and window heads.

The Barracks’ central clock, installed in 1819, is an important feature of the site. Prominently framed in the building’s entry gable, the timepiece is the oldest public clock in Australia and a symbol of the rigid regime of the building’s convict origins. iGuzzini’s Palco InOut fittings cast targeted light on the clock face using directional spot optics, enhancing its gold detailing, roman numerals and hands.

Internally, displays, artefacts and stories reveal intimate insights into the lives of tens of thousands of people who lived and worked at the Barracks across its lifespan as a convict outpost, immigrant depot asylum, law court and government office. Given the interactive and immersive nature of the exhibitions, the lighting design provides moments of focal illumination and darkness as relief. iGuzzini Palco Framers Low Voltage fittings frame heritage elements throughout the corridors, ensuring doorways and paths of travel are subtly illuminated to assist with wayfinding.

The experience of the site enables visitors to reflect on Australia’s convict foundations, its impact on Aboriginal Australia, and its early contribution to immigration and institutional care. The architecture and artefacts are given presence through light, enabling Hyde Park Barracks to redefine the museum as a contemporary and experiential event.