Evelyn Reynolds

The annual Open House Melbourne returns in July 2022 with it first in-real-life program in since 2019. The popular event gives the public access to some of the city’s most loved built works. In 2022, the program features a jam-packed lineup of in-person tours, talks and buildings, temporarily turning the city into a living exhibition.
The 2022 theme of “Built/Unbuilt” showcase Melbourne’s most recently completed and yet-to-be completed spaces, as well as a host of returning favourites across 218 events in one weekend.
We’ve compiles a selection of seven residential highlights to look out for.
The Hütt 01 Passivhaus by Melbourne Design Studios

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The Hütt 01 Passivhaus by Melbourne Design Studios. Image:

Maitreya Chandorkar

Shortlisted for the sustainability award in the 2022 Houses Awards, this home produces more energy than it consumes, earning it the highest category certification of Passivhaus credentials. This four-bedroom home is just 78 square metres in footprint and occupies a site of 250 square metres. It consists of a contemporary scheme with modernist and Nordic touches and sets a new benchmark for small-scale urban densification. Tours will run every half hour from 10:30 am to 1 pm on Sunday 31 July.
Park Life by Architecture Architecture

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Park Life by Architecture Architecture. Image:

Tom Ross

In the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown, this home emerges out of a pocket of 1940s housing commission duplexes and responds to the opportunities and constraints of living on a prominent corner in a “park life” setting. Architecture Architecture’s extension and renovation is a contextual design that cleverly integrates home, garden and streetscape. Tours will run on the hour from 10 am until 4 pm on Saturday 30 July.
Thornbury Townhouses by Fowler Ward

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Thornbury Townhouses by Fowler Ward. Image:

Tom Ross

With a brief to deliver two high-quality homes on a limited budget, these townhouses provide a valuable case study for a small-scale multi-residential development. Dual occupancy townhouses are commonplace in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs, but these homes are far from common, exhibiting clever passive design feature and striking architectural choices. Tours will run every half-hour from 11 am until 4 pm on Sunday 31 July.
Figr Pop-up House by Figr

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Figr Pop-up House by Figr. Image:

Courtesy of Open House

Featuring a permeable facade open to the street, Figr Pop-up House challenges expectations around inner-city living, inviting opportunities for interactions with the community. Located in a predominantly heritage setting, this home uses the silhouette of the neighbouring homes to create a unique extrusion elevated from the ground. The “hovering belly” of the house creates an open undercroft that guides residents into the house and through the landscaped gardens. 15-minute tours will run continuously from 11 am to 3 pm on Saturday 30 July.
Nightingale 2 Fairfield by Six Degrees

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Nightingale 2 Fairfield by Six Degrees. Image:

Tess Kelly

Completed in 2019, this collaboration between Six Degrees Architects and developer Hip V. Hype is based on the tenets of living simply in well-built, sustainable homes, the Nightingale model is evident in the honest, robust and transparent design of this 20-apartment block. Two tours will be held on Sunday 31 July – at 10 am and 12 pm.
Perennial favourites: Walsh Street House and Cairo Flats

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Cairo Flats by Architecture Architecture. Image:

Tom Ross

Robin Boyd’s 1957 home is an enduring exemplar of Australian modernist architecture and remains a well-preserved archive of the genius’s library, furniture and artwork, alongside old manuscripts, correspondence, drawings and news clippings. Tours of the Walsh Street house will run On Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July, at 11 am, 12 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm.
Cairo Flats by Architecture Architecture embraces the philosophy of “less is more” with these simple and flexible Carlton apartments. A renovation of a 1936 block designed by Acheson Best Overend, this building is an icon of early Melbourne modernism. Tours will run on the hour from 10 am until 4 pm on Sunday 31 June.
Click here to view the full program. More

Approval has been granted to the $141 million Bates Smart-designed commercial tower slated for Sydney’s Green Square neighbourhood after a development application was submitted in 2021. To be known as “Fulcrum”, the building will be the first site on Green Square’s Botany Road stretch to be redeveloped, initiating the next phase of the neighbourhood renewal. […] More

A development application has been submitted to the City of Fremantle for a U-shaped hotel designed by Smart Design Studio on an historic site the heart of the city. Located adjacent to the Fremantle Markets, the site was home to the former Spicers Building, built in 1899, which was demolished in the 1970s to make […] More

The University of Queensland has launched its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Design Framework intended to reshape campuses to better recognize, include and celebrate connections to place.
The framework analysed each of the university’s campuses and consulted with Indigenous students and staff about their associations with various sites. It also sets out six key Indigenous design principles.
Led by UQ senior lecturer of architecture Carroll Go-Sam, the Campuses on Countries framework “paves the way for future incorporation of Indigenous knowledges and excellence into the physical environment across UQ’s many campuses and sites.”
At its launch event, Go-Sam delivered a powerful call-to-action speech addressing developers, architects and landscape architects about how they can better co-design with Indigenous practitioners and collaborators for more meaningful project outcomes.
Go-Sam emphasized that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ participation, knowledge and perspective is meaningful and important, for both the university and broader society.
“[The framework is] a set of design principles to ensure that Indigenous Australian knowledges and perspectives are incorporated into UQ’s physical and built environments,” said UQ vice-chancellor and president Deborah Terry. “We will use this framework to guide the development of our places and spaces, so that they are welcoming, educational and inspirational locations.”
Bronwyn Fredericks, pro-vice-chancellor Indigenous engagement, added that the framework was an important step in the university’s reconciliation journey.
“Can I be clear, the framework is not about Blak brushing UQ’s campuses with Indigenous-themed murals, decal designs, or adding bush tucker gardens and yarning circles,” said Go-Sam said at the launch.
“The Campuses on Countries Framework is not asking those ‘not in the know’ to design something Indigenous about Indigenous people to the exclusion of Indigenous people. The starting point is engagement.”
The framework also identified several precedent projects where First Nations leadership had successfully informed and shaped, if not entirely dictated, public architectural and artistic projects related to campuses.
They included: Ngoolark Student Services Building at Edith Cowan University (2015) by JCY Architects and Urban Designers; Birabahn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Centre (2002) by Peter Stutchbury Architects; the Eyes of the Land and Sea Sculpture at Kamay Botany Bay by Alison Page and Dillon Kombumerri (2020); Murri Totems by Reko Rennie at the La Trobe Institute of Molecular Science forecourt(2013); and the Koorie Heritage Trust by Lyons (2015).
The Campuses on Countries Framework follows similar documents developed by other universities around Australia incluing Queensland University of Technology’s Campus to Country, and the University of Sydney’s Wingara Mura-Bunga Barrabugu design principles. More

The Tasmanian government has released concept designs by GHD for a $130 million upgrade to the bridge linking Hobart’s eastern and western shores. The Tasman Bridge was originally built and opened in the early 1960s. The refurbishment will be its first upgrade in almost 50 years after a section collapsed when an ore carrier struck […] More

The proposed transformation of the former Perth Girls’ School into Western Australia’s largest build-to-rent development has been given the green light by the DevelopmentWA.
The masterplan for the precinct by MJA Studio and Nic Brunsdon, includes 742 new apartments, 500 of which will follow the build-to-rent housing model. This model is intended to alleviate pressure on private and social rental sectors while providing a viable solution to housing affordability and supply.
This project will be one of the first to benefit from the government’s new 50 percent land tax concessions for new build-to-rent developments – a reform introduced by the WA government in its 2022 budget to remove barriers to investment in the future supply of rental properties.

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The redevelopment of the former Perth Girls’ School site designed by MJA Studio and Nic Brunsdon.

Aspects of the existing heritage-listed school buildings will be preserved and redeployed as creative mixed-use spaces. Plans also include a supermarket, microbrewery, restaurants and cafes, an art gallery, yoga studio and performance spaces.
Located on the corner of Wellington and Bronte streets, the development has been designed as two sister buildings, using a stepped design to provide residents with views across the city, Swan River and Matagarup Bridge. The precinct will also include the creation of two parks, each connecting to adjacent existing public parks, under the guidance of landscape architects Mala Studio.
WA lands minister John Carey said the revitalization will showcase best-practice urban design, breathing new life into an important heritage site.
“This is a fantastic redevelopment project that preserves some of the great aspects of the historic former girls’ school, while delivering an injection of new social and affordable rentals, and providing a new cultural hub that will attract people from across Perth,” said Minister Carey.
“As part of the state government’s commitment to building more social and affordable housing, my hope is this iconic development will act as a blueprint for industry to deliver more affordable housing through clever and sustainable urban revitalization.” More

The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) released the shortlist for the Designers Australia Awards 2022 on 15 June. Entries are assessed across three cross-disciplinary categories – “place”, “use” and “interact” – and break away from traditional category distinctions towards a more multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving.
A shortlist of 82 designers and design teams have made the cut. The DIA said the awards are an industry first in emphasising the designers and their process as much as the outcome, to recognise the “most nuanced design thinking” across the three categories.
“The DIA’s awards value the designer’s influence over process and purchasing, which is integral to quality design outcomes that shape a better world,” said the Design Institute president Gavin Campbell. “We strive to highlight a designer/s ethics, conduct and capabilities, and processes. We believe that successful design outcomes embrace the circular economy and diversity and positively impact the environment and society.”
The jury for the 2022 Designers Australia Awards is made up of 18 jurors, including design experts, academics, writers and editors. The 2022 jurors are Cameron Bruhn, Gavin Campbell, Nathan James Crane, Penny Craswell, Adam de Guara, Emma Elizabeth, Kate Goodwin, Dale Hardiman, Tuba Kocaturk, Laura Kostanski, Shay McMahon, David Meagher, Liane Rossler, Andrew Scott, Tom Skeehan, Ellie Stathaki, Abdullah M I Syed and Karen Webster.
Winners will be announced at simultaneous events across five states in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, on Wednesday, 3 August. Tickets are available here.

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Cumulus for Goulburn Street Housing was nominated for the “place” category. Image:

Courtesy of the Design Institute of Australia

The award for “place” recognises designers whose projects expertly address the spaces in which we live, work and play. The nominees for this category are:

Anthology for Smith Street Bistrot

APS Design for Lucky Kwong

Architectus for Macquarie University 1 Central Courtyard

Bates Smart for Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street

Brahman Perera for Entrecôte Prahran

Carole Whiting for Calabash Bay Lodge

Cox Architecture for Midtown Workplace

Cumulus for Goulburn Street Housing

Das Studio for Esca Blewitt Springs

de Fiddes for St Bernadette’s. Specialist Dementia Care Unit

Design Paper for South32 Singapore

Design Theory for Indigo Oscar

Design Theory for Level 23, Exchange Tower

Design Theory for Parley Bar

DesignOffice for The Grosvenor Business Lounge

Diadem for 180 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Dot Dash for Logan Village to Yarrabilba Rail Trail

Edmiston Jones for Henry Brooks Estate Kanahooka

Foolscap Studio for The Commons South Yarra

Gensler for EY Melbourne Reimagined

Hither Consulting for Vermont Terrace

Hames Sharley for Hames Sharley studio WA

Kennedy Nolan for Always

Luchetti Krelle for Jane

Map Studio and Naomi Milgrom Foundation for MPavilion 2021, The Lightcatcher

Mata Design Studio Pty Ltd for Gage Roads Freo Brewery

Milieu Creative for Andrews Place II

Milieu Creative for Mineral Resources Headquarters, Osborne Park

Monash Urban Lab for RetroFit Kit: design tools for making our homes accessible

Neil Cownie Architect for 123 House

Plus Architecture for Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA (CCIWA)

RADS for Gladstone – The Cycad House

Rezen for IGO

Richards Stanisich for 9-15 Young Street

Richards Stanisich for The Woollahra Hotel

Russell & George for Society

Russell & George for Yakimono,

Simon Modra Design for Nihon Black

Simone Haag for Bassano

Simone Haag for The Whiskey Room

SITE Architecture Studio for Rockingham Youth Centre

SJB for Powerhouse Museum and Eucalyptusdom

Studio aem and Studio Gestalt for Harbour View House

Studio Nine Architects for The Calyx Project by Forage Built

Studio Quarters for Bondi Terrace

The Design Cupboard for King Tide Brewing

United Studio for St John Urgent Care Wayfinding

Whistle Design Group for Hemmings Street Dandenong Public Art Installation

Woods Bagot for ABN Group HQ Leederville

Woods Bagot for BDO Perth

Woods Bagot for Curtin Co-Working Space

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Breville for ‘an Aboriginal Culinary Journey’ was nominated for the “use” category. Image:

Courtesy of the Design Institute of Australia

The award for “use” acknowledges designers whose projects concern the objects we engage with in our daily lives. The nominees for this category are:

Advanced Navigation for Hydrus

Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme

Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro

Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic Studio Camera

Blundstone Australia and Monash University (SensiLab and Design Health Collab) for Blundstone Intelligent Footwear

Breville for ‘an Aboriginal Culinary Journey’ by Breville

Charlwood Design for Dsmile

Cobalt Design for Cobalt – magAssist VAD Heart Pump

DesignByThem for Olio Armchair, design collaboration by Christina Bricknell, Sarah Gibson & Nicholas Karlovasitis

Edward Linacre Studio and Danielle Brustman for Meteorite

Foolscap Studio for Soufflé

grazia&co for Catch Light

JamFactory for Heli Pendant Light

Monash University for miEye – Wearable Light Sensor

Nüüd studio and Naomi Milgrom Foundation for MPavilion 2021 Dancer Chair

Returnr / Cumulo Group for Returnr Marketplace

David Kay for Roman Shower

Russell & George for Lil Chair

Simon Modra Design for Hexadeca

Sans-Arc for Bankston Architectural x Sans Arc: Super Collection

Street and Garden Furniture Co. For Street + Garden Studio

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Monash University for Victorian Premier’s Design Awards Showcase was nominated for the “interact” category. Image:

Courtesy of the Design Institute of Australia

The award for “interact” is given to projects that depict what or who we engage with. The nominees for this category are:

Balarinji for Nation Brand Mark

CO-architecture for CO-architecture & Australian Architecture Job Board

Culture as Creative for Say It Loud Naarm Melbourne 2022

Design IS: Port Melbourne Secondary School brand strategy and design

Ellis Jones for Worth Holding Onto

Exhibition Studios for Underground

Grumpy Sailor Creative for How To Move a Zoo

Ian Wong and Monash University for Victorian Premier’s Design Awards Showcase – celebrating 25 years of design excellence

Monash University XYX Lab for Keep Running

Monash University XYX Lab for YourGround

For more information visit the Design Institute of Australia’s website. More

Regional Development Victoria will soon be seeking public feedback on a concept design for the proposed Twelve Apostles Visitor Experience Centre – part of a $108.15 million project to redevelop the a section of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, home to the popular tourism destination. The visitor centre is intended to be a gateway to the […] More