Each year, the Brisbane Open House Photography Competition, supported by BlueScope, invites everyone to capture the city’s most remarkable architecture through the lens. It’s an opportunity to celebrate Brisbane’s rich architectural character — and be in the running for some great prizes.
From bold façades and rich interiors to intricate detailing and the connection between people and place, the competition shines a light on how we experience architecture everyday. With five themed categories and a $500 prize for the Overall Winner, there’s no shortage of inspiration to get snapping.
Introducing: Viewing Roofing
New for 2025, Viewing Roofing invites photographers to look up. Whether it’s a sweeping aerial shot or the hidden geometry of rooflines and trusses, this category celebrates the beauty found above us.
Roofs often go unnoticed, but they’re essential to how buildings function, breathe, and express identity — from vaulted ceilings to green rooftops. This is your chance to bring those often-overlooked elements into focus.
So whether you’re exploring from the street, inside a heritage-listed hall, or gazing across the skyline from above — consider what’s overhead. You might just capture something prize-worthy.
Aerial Inspiration
From soaring ceilings to intricate trusses and contemporary forms, Brisbane’s rooftops tell a story. Inside Albert Street Uniting Church, the ceiling creates a rhythmic, cathedral-like volume, while just a short walk away, the Brisbane Arcade reveals a richly detailed interior roof, its glass skylight casting natural light onto heritage tiles and boutique shopfronts below. At Spring Hill Baths, one of the city’s oldest swimming pools, the exposed beams and simple roofline speak to Brisbane’s vernacular history, inviting a unique play of light and shadow.
Looking skyward reveals an entirely different perspective across some of Brisbane’s grander or more contemporary buildings. Drone views of St Paul’s Cathedral and Our Lady of Victories showcase dramatic gabled rooflines rising from lush surrounds — offering sculptural form best appreciated from above. The striking rooftop garden at Riviére blurs the line between architecture and landscape, while Brisbane Airport’s curved rooflines and the sweeping industrial canopy at Patrick Terminals celebrate scale, engineering and movement. And on South Bank, GOMA’s bold angles and QPAC’s layered geometry remind us how rooflines contribute to the rhythm and identity of a cultural precinct designed for people and place.
Other buildings offer quieter yet equally compelling rooftop moments. The Old Museum, home to the Queensland Youth Orchestra, features an ornate and historic roofline that stands as a landmark in Bowen Hills — rich in detail and history. BVN’s contemporary studio space showcases a refined internal ceiling structure, where exposed services and clean geometry speak to modern design thinking. At Parliament House, classic domes and copper-clad towers reflect colonial grandeur, while the Attic Undercroft and 39s Houses reveal how thoughtful roof forms can create personality and presence in smaller-scale architecture. Whether historic, functional, or forward-looking, Brisbane’s rooftops offer a fascinating subject for photographers to explore in this year’s Viewing Roofing category.
The Brisbane Open House Photography Competition
A much-loved annual event, the Brisbane Open House Photography Competition invites the public to capture creativity, and diversity of Brisbane’s architecture. Open to everyone — from professional photographers to enthusiastic amateurs — the competition encourages a fresh look at the city’s buildings, streetscapes, and hidden gems. With five themed categories and an Overall Winner (with a prize of $500), it’s a chance to explore Brisbane through a new lens, highlight the design stories that shape our city, and be part of a growing visual archive that celebrates our built environment. Read more here.
BlueScope
BlueScope are our proud sponsor of Brisbane Open House and the 2025 Photography Competition. With a 100-year legacy of making steel in Australia, and more than 50 years of manufacturing in Brisbane, Bluescope play an integral role in shaping the buildings that form the cities and community that we live in.
COLORBOND® steel
As a key feature of many traditional Queenslander homes, a COLORBOND® steel roof is tried and tested to Australian conditions.
With 22 core colours in the range, including 6 in a premium Matt finish, you can choose a roof colour that sets the theme for your whole home, or complements your other building material choices. The COLOROND® steel range also includes thermally efficient light colours that can help to keep your home cooler on hot, sunny days.
See more inspiring and innovative architecture featuring steel.
More information regarding cool roofing can be found here.
Sustainability
BlueScope is committed to climate action, recognising it is crucial to long-term success. Learn more about Bluescope’s sustainability journey.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
BlueScope has published a range of EPDs providing transparency for the environmental impacts of their products. BlueScope’s EPDs expresses BlueScope’s strong commitment to environmental transparency and product stewardship.
You can download them from our website.
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COLORBOND® steel is a key feature inwithin Queensland architecture, seen in roofing, walling, fencing, garage doors, patios or sheds applications, just to name a few.
COLORBOND® steel – Made by Australia | COLORBOND® steelA building frame made from BlueScope’s TRUECORE® steel is strong, straight and precise, won’t twist or warp over time and won’t catch fire. And TRUECORE® steel is termite and borer proof – so it’s no wonder that TRUECORE® steel blue frames are increasingly a noticeable feature on Queensland building sites.