Russell Street Substation: Open House Melbourne

One of the most popular buildings for Open House Melbourne, for many years running now, is the Russell Street Substation. The opportunity to go underground in the city, and check out a live electricity zone substations, gets an almost constant line up for the weekend. It's worth waiting to get a look, and the full personalised tour, to this unique part of our city!

Once at the front of the line, in the alleyway off Little Collins and Bourke Streets, you need to kit up for the experience. This means full length industrial grey jackets and a hard hat over a hair net! Not everyday you would donn such an outfit, unless working in such a place is your day job.

For the guys for whom this is their day job, you can tell it is a labour of love the moment they begin the tour, for which they have volunteered their weekend to deliver all day, both days of OHM. Their enthusiasm and knowledge, and obvious joy at showing off their little hub of electricity, is brimming.

Once down on the level below, the tour groups are taken through the rooms below, which house the equipment which was part of the first public electricity supply in the southern hemisphere. It it also the last substation to supply DC to local businesses, as last as just 8 years ago.

But the gem of the visit, along with the quirky electrical conductors and transformers, are the blue glowing mercury arc rectifiers. Looking like something from an outer space alien movie, these illuminated glass bulbs (turned on and off by tour participants) are still running just for show, and given their age and lack of actual use now, when they go out or break down, that will be the end of them at this location.

Worth going along just to see this weird and strange science in Melbourne, that cannot be repaired when it reaches it's natural end. But the dress-ups and the fun tour guides make this a don't-miss for Open House Melbourne.

Council House 2: Open House Melbourne

There is a building the Melbourne's CBD that now practically pays for itself, after being a pretty ambitious endeavour to start with. A building so environmentally smart, it is taking care of it's energy levels using the sun and natural wind elements, in addition to creating a working environment for staff which is actually improving health.

The recycled timber shutters can be seen from Swanston Street, and is the façade of a City of Melbourne staff building - Council House 2. The shutters are made from wood salvaged from derelict and demolished housing, and follow the sun, allowing the building to heat and cool at optimum and efficient times. Maximising daylight into the building floors, cutting on lighting costs, they shut completely on those extreme heat days.

There is no artificial air conditioning system in the building, circulating human body heat and general infection, and costing the earth. The internal air is governed by a system that reads the environment outside and acts accordingly. One of the key features is the night purge of accumulated heat from the day, when the outside air is cooler. The absence of that office air-con hum is so noticeable, and quite, that they have needed to stream white noise in, so that people can tune out of the open office space natural noise.



The tour of the building during Open House Melbourne allowed us first to hear the impressive list of features running the internal environment in the building, and the cost of the building which has now been balanced by the energy cost savings within the building since it's operation - plus the calculated costs of usually expected staff absenteeism, which has dropped significantly, in comparison to the City of Melbourne sister building down the road.

The tour also allows access to the roof, which not only affords pretty impressive views of the city around the building, but shows off the feat of energy savings. The yellow turbines, which you can also see from the street, were a design feature to assist further with the energy conservation and heating and cooling. However, as explained in our tour, the building is so efficient it doesn't need this extra - plus the energy used to turn the heavy turbines could not be justified given the efficiency of the building without it - they are now merely decorative!

The building and it's features have now earned the 6 Star Green Star rating, and is lusted after as a work place - certainly after touring it. This was a building I had often wondered about, and now am even more impressed with. Definitely worth getting along to for the next OHM for an insiders peak!

The Urban Workshop - Open House Melbourne

Melbourne manages to mix the modernity of new, sleek skyscrapers with the history and beauty of the previous structures in many instances across the city - The Urban Workshop in Lonsdale Street is one such example.

Glass and newness is the appearance of this building from the street, but stepping into the foyer for a peak into the secrets of the building during this year's Open House Melbourne, I was greeted with timber-featured cafe, and the stone interior marking the history of this block. Little did I know that there was so much more to the space, as my tour took us through all the quirky details.

Walking in from the street, I noticed the wording under foot in stone - and was later informed that this lettering is an ode to the former slum and red light district of the large city block - Little Leichardt.

Within the foyer, as our tour commenced, we were taken to see the cesspool artefacts, held in a circular display cabinet. We were told of the extensive archaeological done on this site, in the early 2000s - which my little sister was involved in around her studies - before the tall, new building was built over the top of it.

This area was one of the first, vibrant neighbourhoods of Melbourne, with homes and businesses, and brothels, within the grid of narrow back alleys.

Our guide showed us the round plaques around the new modern foyer of this city building, where clusters of things were found during the excavation, such as a concentration of dolls, for example, where they know a family cottage once stood.

Then the cabinets in the centre of the foyer displays the array of bits of bobs also found during the dig - everyday living tools, from household items, to coins, and even preserved plant forms. From this, the dig team have pieced together much of the life from those days, a major part of the history and beginnings of Melbourne.

From the ground floor, our tour was taken up to the 33rd floor, where we were allowed to check out the office floor of Australian Super - the sweeping city and Dandenong Ranges views from the board room and their open plan office space, to the bird's eye view of the CBD from the break-out lunch and break room end of the building.

How would anyone get any work done with such a view?

Another great behind-the-scenes look into a Melbourne building - although many of the ground floor features of this could be seen by walking in off the street, for the very curious.

The Argus Building - Open House Melbourne

Melbournians, do you remember the boarded up, graffitied mess of a building on the corner of Latrobe and Elizabeth? It was hidden behind random posters of all sorts of things, with broken windows above street level, and had all the markings of a completely abandoned building right in the middle of the city.

Well, you should see it now!

The Argus Building was open on the Sunday of Open House Melbourne this year, and Jessie and I lined up for over 2 and a half hours for our chance to get a look inside. It was worth it!

Once we were in the group at the front of the line, we could enter the corner Advertising Hall - a space with high ceilings, white ornate features, and walls of the history of the building.

The Argus was a daily newspaper in Melbourne, and the first in the world to publish colour. The pages were produced and printed here in this building, with large printing presses running much of the night, which could reportedly be heard and the rumbling vibrations could be felt all the way to Flinders Street. The newspaper ran from 1846 to 1957.

In the 1990s, the site was a shell, where the homeless often sheltered. A gutted, abandoned shell, the building has been saved by a redevelopment by a private university, and is due to be complete later this year, ready for the academic year next year.

The Project Manager, who has been working on the restoration and transformation of this site over the past 4 years, was the person to show each of the tour groups around, and his love of the project and his work oozed with each detail he showed off to us. This really added to the delight of our preview look inside.

Tiny whispers of the graffiti remain on a couple of the beams of the wide and open interior - but most of what we saw was modern spaces ready for learning facility fit-outs.

But the restoration of the original pieces are the most impressive. The exterior is a stunning addition to this busy city corner, and adds a sense of history and heritage to the area.

Much of the detail of the columns had to be remodelled, as the damaged state of disrepair was too much, but it has been done so lovingly true to the original design. Although it's not quite the original colour - this hue was dictated by the City of Melbourne.

The sight of the building from across the road is stunning - the original window frames and the restored columns are impressive. New life to this corner of the city.

The tower on top, which was a vision by the original designer of the building in The Argus days, complete with a clock tower, but was never completed. There is a lofty ambition of finishing this one day in the new development plans, because all the plans still exist. Imagine!

This was a very popular building of the OHM weekend, and a new feature of our great city - a pretty amazing place to be heading to class and chipping away at a qualification.

Aspects Of Open House Melbourne

Open House Melbourne was on this weekend - the chance to wander around the city peeking into buildings you have always wondered "what's in there?" 111 buildings were open this year across the weekend, and I managed to get in for a look at eight.

I popped into the RMIT Design Hub first, after wanting to see this last year. Being first up, not much was open nor directed, but I got to look out to the city through the unique discs. I took this shot, maybe my photo of the weekend, from the cafe on the side of the building.

Next up I popped into the State Library to have a look at the Queen's Hall. This grand hall has been closed off to the public since 2003. It's columns and impressive light fixtures were enhanced with the lighting of the room, really showing it off.

While I was here, it was hard to resist sitting in the gorgeous La Trobe Reading Room to take in the dome and the stunning desks and surrounding library walls.

My next stop was another building I had wanted to see last year - the Urban Workshop. The foyer of this modern highrise pays tribute to the large block of land's past - a community from the beginning of the settlement of Melbourne. Artifacts from the archaeological dig are on show in glass cabinets, like this teacup. The tour gave insights into the history of the area, before being taken up to the 33rd floor for incredible views of the city, north and south.

Council House 2 was next on my list, which is an impressive office building with self-sufficient energy features, effectively paying for itself since it opened as a building for the City Of Melbourne. Another building with amazing city views from the rooftop.

Around the corner from here was the Russell Place Substation, which always gets such rave reviews for OHM. The line was no too crazy so I joined it, for a look into a live, active power station.

Loads of technical electrical lingo, the PowerCorp guides were enthusiastic in showing off their little plant - particularly the mercury arc rectifiers, eerie blue light globes as ghosts of the DC power supply past to the city.

On Sunday I met up with my sister and we joined the line to see inside the Argus Building, on the corner of Elizabeth and LaTrobe Street. This is a building that has been boarded up and covered in graffiti, in a total state of derelict for years and years - and this year the restoration will be completed. It took a couple of hours for our turn, but the tour with the Project Manager was totally worth it.

Entering the stunning white, high-ceiling-ed Advertising Hall had picture boards showing the history of this once grand Melbourne building - the home of the Argus newspaper. This was the first newspaper to feature colour around the world, and was printed right here.

Our tour then took us up to the second and third floors, with insights into the preservation of the facade and the columns, and also the original beams that will stay in the new life of this building. There were little whispers of the graffiti that has coated this gutted building for it's forgotten years, and an explanation of the uses of the newly created spaces. An impressive Melbourne icon, reborn!

After then popping into Space & Co, I got down to tour the new NAB building next to Etihad Stadium. Another office building, of which I have actually been into for work purposes late last year, seeing the open plan spaces and triangle features right through it. Hearing of the energy and space efficiencies, and the change in the way the NAB has setting up work for it's staff, was really impressive.

My Open House Melbourne weekend finished off with another amazing view of the city from the rooftop here.

Royal Children's Hospital: Open House Melbourne

The chance to have a good look at the new Royal Children's Hospital was too good to pass up, so I added it to my list of buildings to run around and see as part of Open House Melbourne. Having volunteered during first year uni at the old RCH, and then completing my uni placement at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto last year, I have been really interested to see the inside of this new building and the features designed for it's purpose of caring for kids.

I remember being nearby when the Queen attended to open the new building, and the plaque she unveiled was one of the first stops of the tour. We were taken around most of the ground floor areas by a volunteer, with so many of the new details pointed out.

The Creature is the unmissable art feature of Main Street - a colourful, giant being that fills so much of the space. The Creature has a butterfly sitting on his hand, who's wings gently open and close - symbolising the fact that something so big (the hospital) can take care of something so little and precious (the sick child).

In addition to this, the space overhead is filled with giant mobiles of fairies in the form of children at play.

There is so much natural light streaming into the building, and from almost every window of the hospital is a view of the parkland all around the building.

One of the most impressive and well-thought out aspects of the new hospital is the outpatients clinic - a now centralised point for families to attend their appointments, instead of running all over the building to different departments. The Consultants come down to this area to see the family - genius, and so patient-focused.

The waiting area of this outpatients area houses the meerkats, another one of the lovely features of the new building. Melbourne Zoo staff come across daily to care for the animals, who provide a distraction to waiting children, and indeed kids staying up on the wards, as they watch these busy little 'kats.

The other talking point of the hospital is the aquarium along Main Street, which runs down through two floors, to include the Emergency Department downstairs. Another point where families can escape their visit purpose by watching colourful fish, and mini sharks swim around in the water. So cool!

We also visited the Hoyts beanbag cinema, and the Starlight Room. A sample room from a ward was on display downstairs, as the ward names were described, which are all based on Aussie flora and fauna like Koala and Banksia. Each level of the hospital has a theme, from Beach to Tree Tops to Sky.

It's so impressive, and such a special place when you remember all the amazing things going on in here. It is still very much a place I hope to work in one day!

Queen Victoria Women's Centre: Open House Melbourne

Nestled among the shiny new, modern buildings of QV in Melbourne is the Queen Victoria Women's Centre, which was open as part of Open House Melbourne.

The QVWC was the site of the first Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the place where nursing practices were pioneered by Lady Superintendent Jane Bell from 1910 to 1934. Following this period, it became the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, where the focus was on women's health, being 'for women by women'.

Mid-wife birthing, the use of interpreters, gender dysphoria, IVF clinic and support for women who have been victims of sexual assault, are all attributed to this Hospital. Today's QVWC is actually the only surviving pavillon of the vast Hospital, and the most ornate.

Since 1986 it has been the QVWC, a place for women's organisations of support, activity and leadership, starting out with a campaign to keep the building for this purpose, despite the modern developments going up all around it.

Just inside the front gate is the Shilling Wall, which celebrates over 500 women's contribution as mothers, sisters, grandmothers, caregivers, community contributors - teachers, nurses, politicians and journalists.

Entering the building itself, the interior is grand and beautifully fitted, with the gallery after the lobby featured an exhibition of photographs of the intricate details of the building above.

Up to Level 4 and the Victoria Room, the medical care aspect is represented with old hospital beds - which, in it's peek, spilled out onto the vast balcony.

Up again to Level 5, I was treated to spectacular inner city views of Melbourne, with the grand dome of the State Library at one side, and then the vast cityscape sprawled out in beyond the other.

Up on this level was also the Atrium, which can he hired as a function or meeting room, which is just stunning. Stained glass windows with this view - inspiring!

Little Black Number: Open House Melbourne

Around 10 buildings were accessible only through a balloted ticket this year for Open House Melbourne, and I was lucky enough to be drawn out to see the Little Black Number. My allotted time was Sunday morning, and I arrived just before 10am, to a completely nondescript exterior along Leveson Street.

This home is the dream of interior designer Amanda Lynn, and was once an unofficial Libyan embassy, complete with a massive signed poster of Gaddafi hanging on the wall – imagine if that artifact was still floating about!

The block was an old mechanic’s warehouse and then a Union headquarters, her and her husband had their piece of it gutted, and then worked with their architect to produce an amazing living space of less than 5 meters wide, and 16 meters deep. The use of Ms Lynn’s preferred colour, black, was her main requirement, and as she invited the balloted guests in to sit in her living room and listen as she described the features and design thoughts, she explained how black manages to blur the edges of this space, giving the impression that it is bigger than it actually is.

Use of reflection, through mirrors, shiny kitchen panels and windows and the sky lighting from the unique centrepiece of the building, create the impression of ongoing space. Her use of art to “pop” along the walls is very effective, and the commissioned mural in the centre by a local artist, pulls in the couple’s African background in a subtle and useful way, draws your attention upward and creates the illusion of more space than there is.

From the living room, we were invited to peek into Ms Lynn’s office, which doubles as a library and the home of her book collection. The secluded downstairs bathroom is cleverly done with windows at the top of walls, and an unobvious door. Upstairs showed the hidden laundry features, as well as showcasing the use of space, and light from the window out to the courtyard. There is even a second bathroom up here, with a well thought out door handle texture and shape for those cold Melbourne mornings.

The idea of functionality of space rather than being locked into defining a room by it’s function – such as the need for a second bedroom or guest room – was another design feature shared and explained. Considering the frequency of use, the second office for Amanda’s husband doubles as a spare room when needed – and then bed is folded away completely out of sight and thought when not used, allowing for a beautiful black-featured man-den. Using walls for a purpose, such as the bookcase all the way around the window in the office-come-library, and all along the staircase, plus the seating built in within the bookcase in the library and in the living area, in addition to the clever use of storage options throughout the home, fits so much into these small dimensions.

Ms Lynn also shared the sense of community stemming from the house, with the use of the laneway, and the description of the neighbourhood feel. The use of light with the transparent roller door at the back, bringing the laneway behind into the visual field from inside the house, also makes the space seem so much bigger than it is.

Being taken in, and shown around in such a casual and intimate way, and having the design thoughts and trick shared within the tour, was such a special visit. I was wowed by the space and the function of Ms Lynn’s black interior, which she explained she had always wanted to try as a designer but could never foist onto a client. Such a gorgeous home, with an ingenious multipurpose use of the space , and a warm lived feel, this ballot ticket was such a treat!

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!