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First Look: the $48-million refurbishment of the Bondi Pavilion is finally finished

After a two-year, top-to-bottom glow up, the 94-year-old beachfront community hub is ready for its next century of service

Maxim Boon
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Maxim Boon
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Just six years shy of its centenary, the Bondi Pavilion has been brought into the 21st-century. Following a two-year, $48-million restoration, the venue overlooking Australia’s most famous beach is preparing to welcome back the public to its modernised and upgraded facilities from September 21.

Bondi Pavillion courtyard render
Photograph: Supplied

This top-to-bottom glow up includes an art gallery, flexible cultural spaces for events and performances, a welcome centre and box office, an enlarged pottery studio, and renovated changing facilities and bathrooms. The Bondi Story Room is an all-new digital heritage space featuring state-of-the-art amenities that will ensure the pavilion will be a thriving arts and culture hub fit for 2022. Visitors can also enjoy two new dining venues, a restaurant and a café, as well as inviting outdoor spaces, such as the landscaped internal courtyards and new grand entrance on the north face of the pavilion. 

Restorations have been made to heritage features, such as the original terracotta roof tiles that were first installed in 1928, but these sit side by side with important innovations such as a suite of 220 solar panels that will ensure 70 per cent of the building’s energy needs will come from renewable sources. The lead architect on the ambitious project, Peter Tonkin of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, ensured that a combination of historical respect and dynamic modern design for today’s communities was essential to the development process. “The Bondi Pavilion is a fine example of how an old building located in a hostile coastal environment can be reimagined through the ingenuity of the design,” he said.

Bondi Pavillion roof
Photograph: Annabel Osborne

Visitors can get their first look inside the new and improved Bondi Pavilion at the all-ages free launch event on Wednesday, September 21, which will include a range of activities to showcase the upgraded spaces including a concert in the courtyard and pop-up exhibitions.

Several free and ticketed events have also been scheduled for Friday 23, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25, as well as over the following weeks. 

Care to marvel at Sydney's other architectural masterpieces? These are the most beautiful buildings in the Harbour City.

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