Pentridge Prison Tours

Set against a contemporary urban backdrop, Pentridge Prison, once a symbol of Australia's dark past, now lies at the heart of an urban renewal initiative. The prison's redevelopment contextualizes 150 years of a hidden regime, reimagined as an immersive experience and a new destination for locals and visitors to uncover its unsettling truths. Collaborating closely with the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), we spearheaded the creative transformation of Pentridge Prison.

Through authentic set-dressed cells, life-size projections, historical artifacts, and photographs, our design solution drew inspiration from the concept of 'if these walls could talk.' We aimed to put the people of the prison at the core of the experience, bringing their unheard voices to life through two location-aware audio journeys: “B-Division: Pentridge Through Time;” and “H-Division: Unlocked,” which confront some of the most brutal elements of the site’s history. The experience was designed to provoke visitors to consider the nature of retributive justice in our society and to confront the complex and sometimes unsettling history of Victoria's penal system.

Using location-aware immersive technology, visitors are enveloped in the stories and voices of Pentridge as they explore the prison at their own pace. Throughout the historic Warder’s Residence and inside the cells, we integrated the original bluestone walls as storytellers, where projected media is displayed directly on the surface. Four-channel atmospheric soundscapes immerse visitors in the prison’s story, aided by technology that triangulates visitors' location via Bluetooth beacons to identify which cell narration to play. The bluestone construction of the prison is leveraged to provide an excellent barrier to signal bleeding into other cells. Another innovation, a bluestone sculpture equipped with bone-conducting technology, allows visitors to activate the sounds of the prison by touching their elbows on the stone, a unique and intimate way to experience the site.

The impact on visitors is profound, provoking a complexity of emotions and unresolved questions, ultimately leading to a greater understanding of the global impacts of incarceration.