Located within College grounds, we reimagined the historic gaol to create a four-storey facility comprising a 1000-seat theatre, backstage components and a commercial kitchen, catering for music, drama, dance and hospitality studies.

Ulumbarra is the largest dedicated regional Grade A Commercial Theatre in Victoria, is the main commercial event venue for Capital Theatres in Bendigo and hosts performances from major national and international performing artists and touring companies.

Our team worked collaboratively, consulting extensively with the College and Capital Theatre staff, and engaging specialist trades and suppliers to ensure the design met heritage and accessibility requirements. Treatment of features including the Central Hall and separate Turnkey Quarters reflect a respect for the building’s history. Ramps within the facility are sculptural features and interior colour palettes and signage facilitate fluid navigation.

Through heritage-led design, we delineated between historical stories and new build aspects, the architecture providing a journey between present and the past. A new entry invites patrons into the space, under the gallows, into the bluestone foyer, while removal of the southern gaol wall forms a new connection between Ulumbarra and the College, creating a piazza for performances and alfresco dining.

Through thoughtful renovation, this disused facility has retained civic purpose. Ulumbarra meaning ‘meeting place’ in the language of the local Dja Dja Wurrung people, is now an enriched community asset that intrinsically values both the history of Bendigo and its future.

‘The bold intervention of the proposed theatre into the gaol complex is designed as ‘performative’ architecture. In this way space is designed as movement, which strings together series of different types of spaces and creates places for dialogue. The architectural design looks at presence and absence, opportunities to be seen and heard, which are fundamental to changing notions of social justice.’