171 Collins Street: Open House Melbourne

My pick of the buildings open for Open House Melbourne after exploring on Day 1 is 171 Collins Street - which is also one of Melbourne's newest buildings!

Finished after 5 years of planning and open in May of this year, the building features the facade of the heritage Mayfair Building out on Collins Street, and then ranges back through to Flinders Lane with an impressive modern space of light, glass and views of the city!

The tour was led by Bates Smart architect and OHM President, Tim Leslie, which added such a personal element to make the features come to life. Such passion for his design!

Walking through the doors from the street into the gorgeous atrium, you are hit with a sense of vast light and space - which is created by the 9 storey glass elements, which are actually hiding the next door building and one side of a carpark on the other side, plus the goings on in office floors above.

This modern space will soon be filled with the activity of the offices on the floors above, as occupants fill the Tower Building.

Our tour continued up one of the elevators to a couple of the 20 stories of office space not yet occupied. The afforded a view of the atrium from above, which was equally impressive.

But the views of the city was the killer for me - amazing! Spying the sporting precinct of Melbourne, including the MCG, AAMI Park and the Tennis Centre to the left, and then the Arts precinct with the Arts Centre spire, Yarra River, Flinders Street Station and St Paul's Cathedral spires to the right when facing South, both levels visited gave breath-taking vistas.

Because of the light glass nature of the exterior of the Tower, this building was permitted as a new backdrop to the Cathedral spires.

Such a treat to get this special peek into such a new and stylised building! Get out there tomorrow, to be a tourist in your own city, Melbourne!