Open House Melbourne's Biggest Ever July Program Is a Deep Dive into Modernist Architecture

Next month, you'll have the chance to dig deeper than ever before into the city's architectural past and present, as Open House Melbourne returns with its biggest, broadest July program yet.

Headlining the bill is, of course, the annual Open House Melbourne Weekend, which gives visitors the chance to get up close and personal with some of the city's most interesting and iconic structures. This year, a huge 224 buildings will be opening their doors to the public on July 28 and 29, including 87 appearing on the program for the first time. You'll be able to explore the likes of City of Casey's new $125 million cultural and entertainment precinct Bunjil Place, fresh off the back of its International Design Awards 2017 win, and Monash Clayton's Learning and Teaching Building, designed by John Wardle Architects.

Behind-the-scenes guided tours are also being offered through the site of the Australia 108 tower, which, once complete, is set to become the Southern Hemisphere's 'tallest building by roof height'.

The rest of the month also has plenty of Open House goodness in store, including major new exhibition The Australian Ugliness, which sees Aussie artist Eugenia Lim pay homage to acclaimed modernist architect Robin Boyd, through a three-channel video installation. Running at the Melbourne School of Design's Dulux Gallery from July 23 until August 25, the work sets out to explore the diversity of 'The Australian Dream'. It traverses over 30 sites and spaces across the country, with Lin herself swapping between the roles of student, tourist, property investor, client and resident.

Another highlight of Open House Melbourne's jam-packed July program sees the 2018 Heritage Council of Victoria's Annual Heritage Address delivered by acclaimed comedian Tim Ross on July 17. He'll be asking the big question, "Why does Modernism matter?", exploring the threats to Melbourne's modernist buildings, and offering insights into how we can all better appreciate this oft-overlooked slice of Aussie architectural history.

Meanwhile, ACMI's jumped on board to present the Modernism at the Movies screenings, featuring a trio of critically-acclaimed films devoted to the period, and a lineup of architecture and environment experts will take the stage for the annual speaker series, Design City: Built Melbourne!

Catch the full July program over at the Open House Melbourne website.