National Arts School, Darlinghurst

Few construction sites carry the weight of this one. The former Darlinghurst Gaol – the oldest surviving large jail complex in Australia – is not merely a heritage complex. It is a place where the past is present in every stone.

Prime Projects was engaged to refurbish Building 11 at the National Art School, Darlinghurst – a project designed by Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke Architects that restored a 170-year-old heritage structure to its intended three-storey form, transforming it into a vibrant, fully functioning creative hub for Australia’s next generation of artists.

The scope was as layered as the building’s history. Metalwork and woodwork workshops. Sculpture studios. Individual artist studios. Project display and exhibition areas. A humidity-controlled archival space for the NAS Collection. A media lab and lecture room. Meeting rooms, administration spaces, and staff amenities – all woven into a heritage fabric that demanded sensitivity, skill and an unwavering respect for what existed before.

Working within a state heritage-listed site under Create NSW Infrastructure’s Art Property portfolio, Prime Projects navigated the particular complexities that only heritage construction brings – where every intervention must be justified, every material considered and every detail reconciled with a building that has already survived a century and a half.

The glory of Building 11 has been restored. Its purpose – dedicated to the rising generations of Australian artistic talent – has never been more alive. Prime Projects delivered not just a refurbishment, but a legacy.