Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
Each year I get really excited for the weekend of
Brisbane Open House (BOH) where the city's most iconic and historic buildings open their doors to public. It's something that has been done in many capital cities as part of World Architecture Day and it's fantastic to see the concept happening in our home town. In a completely free-of-charge event, this is a rare opportunity for locals and visitors to step inside architecturally significant buildings.
There are loads of things to see and do during the upcoming weeks which culminate in the open house weekend. With a
Speaker Series,
Photography Competition, Special
Concerts and lots more. Looking over the itinerary you will wish you had more than just one weekend to see all there is on the
suggested lists. If I had to choose one itinerary, my favourite buildings are always homes or houses and BOH offers the perfect option 'Domestic Bliss', with all the best historic and architectural designed homes across the city.
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
A few other buildings on my 'to do list' for the weekend will be
The City Tabernacle Baptist Church,
Masonic Memorial Temple,
Coronet Court and
The Windmill Tower. Some of these buildings have resorted to allowing guests by ballot due to their popularity or size constraints.
In an exciting development, the tours will also showcase a not-yet-finished building,
The Lady Cilento Children's Hospital which is still in the final stages of completion and is set to open later this year. This will be it's first tour and will show a glimpse of what's to come for this premier Brisbane hospital.
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
For the children there's an exciting exhibition of the city's best cubby houses with Grocon's Great Cubby House Build. All cubbies will be displayed at BOH's Info Hub in King George Square and two will be sold at live auction at 1pm on the Sunday. All proceeds go to Kids Under Cover which is a charity helping at-risk young people in our country avoid homelessness or helping those on the streets to find homes.
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
There is also a full children's program for the weekend with many buildings offering kid's activities and games. They can build a Lego architectural masterpiece at City Hall and reconstruct the clock tower with recycled materials. There's also a chance to do an archaeology dig to find treasures in the sand. At the Griffith Film School kids can make their own movie while at the Roma Street Fire Station they can meet a Fire Fighter and check out where they work. To top it all off the first 100 kids to visit historic
Shingle Inn in City Hall on Saturday and again on Sunday will receive a FREE cupcake! That's a pretty good reason for them to tag along with you for the day.
Photo Courtesy of Brisbane Open House
Entrant to 2014 Photo Comp BOH
To make sure you don't miss out on anything, you can head to a local bookstore to
purchase a copy of the program. The money rasied from the sale of these books will go towards opening more doors in 2015 for Brisbane Open House.
