BridgeMuseum, Sydney Harbour Bridge
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
Project Completed: 2026
Client
BridgeClimb
Thylacine’s role
- Interpretive design
- Interactive design
- Graphic design
- Media design
- Commission and install
The BridgeMuseum brings to life the extraordinary story of the Sydney Harbour Bridge within one of its most distinctive and challenging spaces — the historic sandstone pylon at the Bridge’s southern end. Realising the exhibition within the Pylon demanded careful thinking to blend a multimedia experience with the fabric of the building itself. The solution uses light, sound, and projected imagery to draw visitors into key moments, using several technical and thematic devices.
At Entry, visitors are provided with an NFC wristband that activates animation and additional information when swiped over the NFC readers placed in the space. The interaction enhances the experience, but is not required for understanding content.
As visitors ascend the stairs, visual media portals to the Sydney landscape provide a walk through history, from a First Nations view before colonisation, to the busy metropolis Sydney was becoming, to the decision to build a bridge.
On the third level, a built model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and environs can be explored using dedicated AR overlay monitors that can be turned and focussed on stories from First Nations, workers on the Bridge, and the connection the Bridge provides between both physical and cognitive distance. A physical experience of walking across a beam seemingly suspended hundreds of feet over the bridge challenges visitors to be courageous. Informational graphics and interactive touch table allow a deeper dive into the rich narrative.
Level 4 is a celebration of the 360 degree views from the lookout, employing playful interactive animations within a graphic illustration of the Sydney Skyline Stories.
The highlight of the exhibition experience is an immersive theatre that occupies the full height of the pylon space. With interactive fireworks as the finale, the visitor is transported on a visual and auditory journey across time and space, celebrating not only the vision and expertise of building the Bridge, but more profoundly the icon it has become; a symbol of civic pride and collective identity.