This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in South Brisbane, which opened to the public on 20 April 1985. Designed by local architect Robin Gibson and Partners, the project was appointed following the firm’s success in a two-stage competition for the nearby Queensland Art Gallery in 1973.
Four years after the QPAC’s completion, Gibson was awarded the Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal. Later, in 2010, the QPAC building was recognised with the Institute’s 25 Year Enduring Architecture Award.
Together with The Edge at the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Queensland Museum, and the Cultural Forecourt near the river, QPAC forms part of the Queensland Cultural Precinct, which gained state heritage status in 2015.
QPAC itself is home to three original theatres – the Lyric Theatre, seating up to 2,000 attendees for ballet and musical theatre; the 1,800-seat Concert Hall for live music and orchestral performances; and a small, 300-seat space called the Cremorne Theatre. A fourth theatre for smaller productions seating 850 guests, called The Playhouse, was opened in 1998. Despite being completed more than a decade later, the addition maintains the architectural language of the original building.
An extract from Light, Space, Place: The Architecture of Robin Gibson, by architecture academic Deborah Van der Plaat, notes that in his design for QPAC, “Gibson sought to capture the drama and excitement of attending the theatre.”
“Recalling Garnier’s Paris Opera (1875), where the grand staircase acted as a podium from which theatregoers could see, and be seen, the circulation spaces at QPAC also encourage patrons to participate in the performance of visiting the theatre,” the extract reads. “Externally, the large expanses of glass rise and fall to mirror the internal staircases creating an attractive, kinetic element to the riverside facade. From the interior, patrons experience expansive views of the river and the city beyond.”
Reflecting on the project’s milestone, Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek commented that “for 40 years, QPAC has been the beating heart of Queensland’s vibrant arts and cultural scene … deliver[ing] exceptional arts experiences to more than 30 million people since opening its doors.”
To celebrate the milestone, QPAC has announced an open day on Sunday 31 August 2025, inviting the public backstage of each of the complex’s theatres, with the exception of the forthcoming Glasshouse Theatre. Currently under construction, the new $150 million, 1,500-seat addition designed by Blight Rayner and Snøhetta is expected to open in May 2026.
QPAC chief executive Rachel Healy said, the open day would give “hundreds of people the opportunity to see and feel the workings backstage of what is soon to become Australia’s biggest performing arts centre under one roof.”
As part of the free-to-attend open day program, a cultural precinct architecture tour led by former Queensland government architect Malcolm Middleton will give insight into Gibson’s design of the precinct.
Information on the program can be found online.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
