This year’s Open House Melbourne is a little different - for obvious reasons - but it gives those of us in lockdown a great opportunity to enjoy visiting some of Melbourne's best architecture, albeit virtually from the comfort of your own home.
This year, thanks to the creativity and passion of the Melbourne community, you’ll gain access to the largest collection of virtual tours in Australia, in additi on to old favourites and an entirely new program of live, on-demand and interactive events and digital tours over the Weekend itself.
The full building list and access to virtual tours launched online on Thursday 16th July and will be available through until the end of August. Many online events will be running on Open house weekend, 25-26th July.
Previously only accessible during visiting hours on the Open House Weekend, the program of virtual tours will now allow ample time to explore Australia’s most liveable city from the comfort of home.
We’ve picked a couple of our favourites below, but we highly encourage you to go an look at the open house Melbourne website yourself!
Boyd House II / Walsh Street was designed by Robin Boyd for his family in 1957 and is his best known work. It is an exemplar of modernist Australian architecture. The house remains largely unchanged from the time it was first designed and occupied by the Boyd family – a time capsule to the perennially popular mid-century modernist period.
It is the first time that one of Australia’s significant houses has been open to the public tour from their home, and the first digital presentation of the work of the Robin Boyd Foundation Collection team.
Photos Eve Wilson
The Heritage listed building ‘Queen Bess Row’ was built in 1886 in the wealth of the gold rush, designed by renowned local architects Tappin Gilbert and Dennehy, and renovated by ZGA STUDIO in 2012.
This is the story of a historic house regaining its dignity and liveliness in the context of the 21st century, informed by its current owners’ passion for design and the artworld.
Photo: Dianna Snape
There are also a number of very cool online events which we encourage you to view:
Home and design reality TV shows are hugely popular, but they don’t always portray the whole picture when it comes to renovating or building your own home.
Our expert panel will delve into some popular myths and misconceptions arising from reality TV shows, and provide insights and advice about what it really takes to make a great home.
Architect Zoe Geyer from ZGA STUDIO and Matt Martin from Martin Brothers Building sit down and talk sustainable shifts in local housing and construction. We will touch on concepts of Living Buildings, Passive House, off-grid housing and prefabrication, as well as grassroots movements such as Architects Declare AU. There will be a live Q&A at the end of the discussion.
Enjoy!
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