Amanda Levete’s practice AL_A has been beaten to a major cultural project in Sydney by a team featuring Moreau Kusunoki.

The Franco-Japanese architect, working with Australian practice Genton, has been named the winner of the Powerhouse Parramatta competition which is being described as the biggest investment in arts and culture in New South Wales since the Sydney Opera House.

The £220m project will see the venerable Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences relocated to the city’s western suburbs, the first time a major cultural institution will have been located in the “geographical heart” of the city – far from its current centre – in what is being rebranded “Sydney’s Central River City”. MAAS’ current Powerhouse Museum is in the inner-city district of Ultimo.

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