Fusing Art & Architecture – A Visit to Lyon Housemuseum in Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne is a diverse city that’s full of art, design and craft of all different kinds. This creativity is especially evident in the architecture that’s randomly scattered around the city. You can walk around and see modern pieces of architecture sandwiched between an assortment of old and new buildings alike, which I suppose is quite a rare thing in other countries. The Lyon Housemuseum in Kew, an inner suburb of Melbourne, was a property recommended to me and certainly didn’t disappoint.

Lyon Housemuseum is owned by architect and collector Corbett Lyon. Corbett designed the space with a concept of fusing art and personal living under one roof, so although the who family live there, his wife and two children, you can take a tour where his collection of art is shown. Currently this house is for private tours only, which I was lucky enough to walk around on with his wife Yueji as a tour guide. The construction of a public art gallery attached to the residence is currently under construction and will result in one of the largest art locations in Melbourne when completed in 2018.

The whole building is designed around a two storey ‘white cube’ at the front of the building and a two storey ‘black cube’ at the rear. These cubes house the paintings, sculpture, video work and installations, and the family areas also work around these spaces. Although there are many pieces of great art, what was intriguing for me was to see how the so called “normal” idea of a living space has been broken down, an unusual mixture between public and private.

I think it’s a unique concept to open up your living space in such a way. Not only is this property open in the physical sense, with surprisingly few barriers between each space, it’s open in a sense that the public can view it and enjoy the art. For an architect these tours are invaluable and gives him knowledge on how humans look at art in a space, as well as flow in an environment. Overall a beautiful property that’s worth visiting if you’re ever in Melbourne. Here are a few photos taken inside, I was especially interested in capturing some of the details and objects scattered around. Enjoy.

lyonhousemuseum.com.au

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