The six buildings you need to see at Open House this year

Helmed by the team at Lyons, the revamp of the Melbourne University student precinct saw a re-establishment of the pre-colonial waterway and a landscape design refreshed for students who have returned to campus this year. This will be the opening of the site for students, staff, and Open House Melbourne audiences.

Social housing is in focus more than ever right now. Markham Avenue showcases a commitment to well-designed social housing as part of the Big Build project, which involved a $5 billion investment into affordable housing for Victorians in need. Focusing on amenities, outlook and landscape, this project saw architects use durable materials and robust design thinking to deliver 178 new homes.

This adaptive reuse project in Swan Street, Richmond, is the new home of multidisciplinary design studio Jackson Clements Burrows Architects after they outgrew their previous location in Melbourne’s CBD. They began by evaluating the constraints of their previous studio while developing a strategy focused on flexible work culture, new technologies and an increased commitment to sustainability.

After investigating new build opportunities, JCB Architects concluded an adaptive reuse approach that retained the original warehouse was the most suitable strategy. The primary space within the existing building structure is anchored in a large clear span floor plate covered by a sawtooth roof, providing south daylight access and ideal orientation for a solar farm.

The interior is unadorned, and the raw elements of the new structure can be seen throughout the additions. Laminated timber beams, steelwork and trusses remain off-the-shelf items and can be salvaged for future use. An important social activator was the inclusion of a café, 345.

The café is owned and operated by JCB and provides a space for the team to socialise with visitors. 345 brings life to the pedestrian laneway and provides a welcome coffee and lunch destination. Operating in unison with the studio, clients often visit the café on arrival and enter the studio with their team."

The City of Melbourne has installed floating wetlands in the Yarra River as part of a trial supported by the Victorian government. An important step forward for the city-shaping Greenline Project, the wetlands trial will help identify opportunities to enhance the river system's health and improve the experience of our city landscapes.

Join the Greenline team along with an ecologist and wetland specialist to explore this milestone for the project and understand how these landscapes might be integrated into the city's urban river areas.

Mount Burnett Observatory was built in 1972 by Monash University as a research facility. The original telescope in the Monash Dome was used by students and staff to study variable stars. The Log Cabin, added in 1975, provided on-site facilities for students conducting observations. In the early 2000s, the facility was no longer needed by Monash University and fell into disrepair.

In 2011, an enthusiastic group of local astronomers took over the site and began its restoration with the aim to preserve the facility and use it to promote astronomy and science to the broader community. The observatory now services a growing membership of astronomers pursuing a range of activities, including astrophotography, radio astronomy, outreach programs and a Young Observers group. The Monash Dome houses a telescope with an 18-inch mirror, providing members and visitors with magnificent night sky views.

A public tour and panel exploring this iconic CBD arts hub and the fight to save its culture will take place across the Open House weekend. A panel of experts will survey sustainable creative collectives as a way to re-imagine the relationship between buildings, communities and economies.