Sydney Opera House - 'Housemates'

Sydney Opera House -'Housemates' In March 2011, Sydney Opera House began the largest construction project since it was opened in 1973, which turned one of our busiest areas, The Forecourt, into a large-scale building site. We were asked to create an installation piece that engaged our community and turned the site hoardings into an inspirational and fascinating piece of art. Considering that Sydney Opera House is Australia’s most famous ‘home’, we decided to look for ‘Housemates’ to share the best house in Australia for the next 6-9 months. We placed real estate-style ads on property search sites and online flatmate finding sites. We also created a street campaign of ‘Housemate Wanted’ ads and fliers that were posted on telegraph poles and distributed in local cafés. They all advertised this prime waterfront address for zero dollars a week. Interested parties were directed to a custom Facebook application that looked very much like a rental application form that allowed interested people to apply to become one of our Housemates. All they had to do was upload a photo of themselves, along with a testimonial devoted to The House. In May 2011, our Housemates 'moved in’ and over 88 panels were plastered on the hoardings on the Forecourt of Sydney Opera House. They lived there until their lease expired in early 2012. The giant Housemates wall made the most of the construction site, and created an interactive and inclusive talking point on the forecourt of Sydney Opera House. 31,883 people clicked on the ‘Housemates Wanted’ Facebook Ad, which was important in the context of creating awareness for the VAPS project and building community support for it. We had 1,200 Facebook fans apply to become Housemates, the Sydney Opera House gained over 4,000 new Facebook fans, and the campaign received PR coverage in local, national and trade press (online and offline).