Open House Melbourne is an annual event that celebrates Melbourne’s culture through its architecture. The program includes talks, tours, workshops, and interviews. My favourite part is Open House Melbourne weekend, which provides the public an opportunity to explore buildings, some of which you wouldn’t get the chance to see otherwise.
Last weekend, more than 100 buildings participated in Open House Melbourne 2013. Some of them, such as the stunning Manchester Unity Building, can only be visited during Open House Melbourne (OHM). Other buildings, such at the State Library of Victoria, are always open to the public, but for OHM, they open special areas that are not normally accessible.
Planning for OHM presents challenges. The event runs just one weekend, the hours are generally 10am to 4pm, and there were 111 buildings throughout Melbourne. The OHM website has a list and map of the buildings along with a description of each, but it’s not smooth to navigate. You can create an account and build an itinerary, which I did, as well as download the smartphone app. Then I discovered the website and app don’t communicate with each other and I had to rebuild my itinerary on the app. I hope they fix this for next year. Once armed with the app and Google Maps, I was able to more easily create a route in the CBD (i.e. What’s the next closest building on my list?). There was a program available for purchase (which was $10 this year), but I passed on it because it doesn’t necessarily help you map a route.
There are a couple of other things to keep in mind. First, for most buildings, you can just walk in and take a look around, but some can only be accessed by taking a tour, which may be offered every 20, 30, or 45 minutes and be limited to, say, 20 persons. This is going to slow you down. One site my partner Theo and I wanted to visit was the Russell Place Substation, which offered a 20-people tour every 30 minutes. There was a long queue going around the corner and it would have been a few hours before we got in. We decided to skip it.
Second, some building tours are pre-allocated via a ballot system. The ballot opened on July 1 and closed July 18, about a week before I heard of it. Naturally, these are the coolest places such as the previously mentioned Manchester Unity Building, behind the scenes tours of Federation Square, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Fairhall House Museum. Next year, I’ll be ready! (I heard a caller on talk radio say that there’s a five year wait for the Manchester Unity Building. Could this be true?)
Theo and I both had engagements on Saturday and went to OHM on Sunday. In nearly six hours, we only visited four places. It takes a while to get around, in and out, take a hundred photos, and we also breaked for lunch. But it was well worth it. We both enjoyed it and will do it again next year. Most of them were taken with my point-and-shoot Canon. I snapped a few with my iPhone.
For more information about Open House Melbourne, please visit the website here.
Did you go to Open House Melbourne? Which buildings did you visit?
I didn’t know this existed. Glasgow has an Open Doors weekend in September and I’ve taken advantage of that. Now I’m excited to think I can do something similar in Melbourne next year. Thanks. Your blog is enlightening me about my home town!
Thanks! OHM has been going since 2008, but I only just learned about it. It happens so often that I discover an event just after it has passed.