About MOH

Overview

Melbourne Open House is a not-for-profit association that runs annual events providing the public a free and rare opportunity to discover a hidden wealth of architectural, engineering and historic buildings nestled around the city.

The inaugural MOH 2008 event saw 8 buildings open and more than 30,000 visits across the day. Since then, the event has grown; the 2010 event expanded to 59 buildings, incorporating Docklands in addition to Melbourne’s CBD, and in 2011 75 buildings open their doors to the public. Melbourne Open House is now held over two days and runs in association with the State of Design Festival.

Our mission

The city is a continually evolving entity and we all have the ability to enhance the quality of our built environment through making informed decisions. Melbourne Open House assists by providing an avenue for the public to become informed and to engage with Melbourne.

We believe the city and its architecture is a museum of our culture, explaining our past, celebrating our present and offering insights into our future. MOH fosters civic pride, cooperation and social cohesion.

Melbourne Open House is committed to:

• Providing free, guided, public access to a range of significant Melbourne buildings and infrastructure

• Providing examples and promoting public awareness of good design and environmentally sustainable design through site visits and public forums

• Increasing engagement between Melburnians (and visitors) and their city by providing an event that attracts both national and international attention.

Melbourne Open House provides an opportunity for direct engagement with key elements of the this great city - from globally significant buildings to roof top gardens to subterranean infrastructure - that reflect the Melbourne's fascinating past and its rapid civic, commercial and industrial development. 

Our well-informed volunteers discuss the significance of these buildings within a Melbourne context and contributed to visitors' experience of both the buildings and the city.

Melbourne Open House also provides complementary public talks on seminal buildings by their designers. These architects discuss the design process that has lead to the built forms we experience today. This Speaker Series gives the public a valuable insight into the design process and a greater ability to critique both the building and the city within an architectural context.

The architecture of our city is a reflection of our culture. The buildings that we build today, and those that we protect, will form our future heritage and will define the Melbourne of tomorrow.