Ian Potter State Theatre in Melbourne reopens after heritage refurbishment

Melbourne's Ian Potter State Theatre, completed in 1984 to designs by architect Roy Grounds with interiors by John Truscott, has reopened after a refurbishment by NH Architecture and Snøhetta. It is the first finished piece of the Victorian Government's Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, which is described as the largest cultural infrastructure project in Australia's history.

The studios worked with what Snøhetta calls a "retention-first approach", agreed with Heritage Victoria, recording the existing fabric to decide what could be kept, restored, adapted or carefully reproduced. So Truscott's world of red carpet and brass balustrades survives. The cascading auditorium ceiling, made of roughly 75,000 etched brass spheres, was taken down, cleaned and put back. New custom seats closely resemble the originals, and timber flooring picks up the red of the old carpet.

Much of the work is about sound and access. A new moulded acoustic ceiling of 20 panels carries more than 27,000 concave and convex baubles to scatter sound, while timber battens on the rear wall soak it up. New aisles, an extended balcony and lifts make the 2,000-seat room easier to use, and a 14-metre-deep excavation made space for a rehearsal studio and function room beside expanded backstage areas.

The theatre is open to the public now. Worth booking a performance simply to sit beneath that brass ceiling again.

Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 9 October 2026. Read the original