Open House Melbourne 2022

Overview

This July sees the return of a packed IRL program from Open House Melbourne, after a two-year switch to the digital realm. If you're not familiar with the annual event, it opens up some of the city's most iconic buildings, new structures and urban environments for the public to explore and appreciate. And this year, it's back to regular programming, hosting a slew of in-person events, tours, exhibitions and talks, from Saturday, July 30–Sunday, July 31.

You're invited to scope out architectural gems from across the Melbourne region, as the festival digs into the theme 'Built/Unbuilt'.

This year's tour program will afford punters a rare stickybeak into spaces like the new Victorian Pride Centre, Collingwood Yards, the Melbourne Quakers Centre, the newly-rebuilt La Mama Theatre and the grand expanse of Studley Park's Villa Alba — an 1880s Italianate mansion bearing some of this country's most significant examples of late nineteenth-century decoration.

Melbourne Quakers Centre, Nervegna Reed Architecture and pH architects, captured by John Gollings

You'll also have the chance to explore the recently completed Melbourne Holocaust Museum, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects, and to walk through the site of the new library planned as part of the Queen Vic Market precinct's Munro development.

Meanwhile, new exhibition Take Hold of the Clouds transforms the city into a gallery, with a curation of responsive works displayed across seven sites, each sharing their own stories about the urban landscape. Elsewhere, you'll hear from some of our leading spatial and creative practitioners as they hit The Capitol to share their ideas for speaker series This Is Public, architect and housing advocate Tania Davidge leads a series of events exploring the issues around affordable housing in Australia, and you can catch a short flick celebrating the life and work of award-winning architect Peter Elliott.

Villa Alba Museum by Russell Winnell

Top Image: Collingwood Yards, by Stefan Postles