Sydney Design Week 2024

Since 1996, Sydney Design Week has championed the best in design from Australia and around the world. Presented by Powerhouse, this year’s festival brings together visionary designers, architects, artists, researchers, storytellers and image-makers to explore design’s role in imagining alternative futures.

Taking place between September 13 and 19 across Powerhouse Castle Hill, UTS and Parramatta Town Hall, this year’s festival theme is “In Between Worlds”. With a focus on inclusive cities, the program asks how design can push the boundaries of possibility to support sustainable models for living, connection and culture.

On Saturday September 14, head to Powerhouse Castle Hill for Family Day: Building Worlds, a day for visitors of all ages to enjoy workshops, tours and insights into the magic of production design. Explore world-building through sketching and model creation with renowned production designer Jacinta Leong (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Alien: Covenant, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Unbroken and Mad Max: Fury Road), learn about set building with the Australian Production Design Guild, and play your part in developing a communal film set.

At the UTS Great Hall, hear David Gianotten, managing partner and architect at globally renowned architecture firm OMA, share his insights into the changing role of the architect; Johannesburg based architect Sumayya Vally and Sara Mansour, poet and co-founder of Bankstown Poetry Slam, on how design can bring communities together; and Academy Award-winning production designer Colin Gibson in conversation with Powerhouse curator and Sydney Design Week creative director Keinton Butler.

At Parramatta Town Hall, the line-up includes Moroccan British artist Hassan Hajjaj, who will discuss his maximalist approach to photography; international space architect, technologist and researcher Melodie Yashar, speaking on the ethics and design of space settlement; and Professor Anna Puigjaner, co-founder of Barcelona architecture studio MAIO, who’ll deliver a talk on architectural models for collective care.

Puigjaner will also collaborate with Powerhouse curator and chef Xinyi Lim on a special culinary event in Parramatta Square, sharing global food stories and bringing the act of cooking into the public domain. And Vally returns for a second event, this time with food creative Karima Hazim, as the pair prepares a traditional Lebanese Sunday breakfast at Baba Ghanouj Parramatta, highlighting how family recipes capture snapshots of significant milestones and cultural shifts.

Sydney Design Week is presented with the support of principal partner Holdmark Property Group.

Browse the full program of free and ticketed events online.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Powerhouse.