July at Open House: Porto, Brisbane, Colombo, and Melbourne

OPEN HOUSE PORTO
PORTO, PORTUGAL
1-2 JULY

The 2023 edition of Open House Porto, curated by Pedro Baía and Magda Seifert, is themed 'Brand New in Architecture'. Inspired by Nuno Portas' 1959 text, the curators aim to question the ideas, intentions, and works of the new generation of architects in Portugal. Explore the cities of Maia, Matosinhos, Porto, and Vila Nova de Gaia, delving into their architecture, built heritage, and history.

BVN, Christopher Frederick Jones

OPEN HOUSE BRISBANE
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
15-16 JULY

Open House Brisbane opens more than eighty buildings and spaces for tours, talks, and kids’ activities. From the 19th-century Lady Lamington Nurses' Home to state-of-the-art labs working on Queensland’s most significant medical research projects, the festival celebrates the region’s rich heritage, cutting-edge design, and innovative spaces. The lineup also includes several Queensland Architecture Award winners, including Thomas Dixon Centre, a historical building reimagined as a modern cultural hub, and Herston Quarter Redevelopment, a precinct newly rejuvenated as a sustainable and connected community.

Lunuganga, courtesy Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts. All rights reserved.

OPEN HOUSE COLOMBO: TO LUNUGANGA
BENTOTA, SRI LANKA
23 JULY

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Lunuganga — the late Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa's country home and gardens in a former cinnamon and rubber estate — Open House Colombo goes to Bentota for its second edition. The programme explores the inseparability of art and ecology, particularly in how we understand nature and the natural, archives and rituals, food and healing. To Lunuganga is organised across three seasons, considering the overarching and increasingly unpredictable temporalities at Lunuganga. Open House Colombo will visit key gardens and green spaces in Bentota in Season 1 (2023) and Colombo in Season 2 (2024) of the programme. 

University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Student Precinct Project

OPEN HOUSE MELBOURNE
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
29-30 JULY

Melbourne’s population is expected to reach 8 million by 2050. Collective City, the 2023 edition of Open House Melbourne, fosters a citywide discussion of how the city will be reinvented, repurposed, and adapted so all can live better together. The programme opens up perspectives and projects that speak to the power of collective, adaptive and responsive design approaches for creating a more equitable, accessible and inclusive city. New sites include Gantry House, the live-work space for a multigenerational family designed by OOF! Architecture; Wurun Senior Campus, a new vertical high school for 650 students by GHD Woodhead and Grimshaw; and the Student Precinct Project at the University of Melbourne, a fully co-created project informed by contributions from more than 20,000 people.