A few months ago it was a garish beige and red shop front, plastered with "closing down sale" signs, with masses of bright pink geraniums crowding the entry.

Now it is home to the new Gertrude Contemporary art gallery and artist studios, which voyaged up the tram line from its home for more than 30 years at Gertrude Street, Fitzroy.

They pulled out the geraniums, repurposed the signage, stripped back and refurbished the insides and gave it a lick of paint.

The result couldn't be more different from the previous location: 200 Gertrude Street was a century-old, double-storey affair; behind the street-front gallery was a rabbit warren of pokey hallways and stairwells, with the artist studios varying considerably in size, functionality and access to natural light.

"It was charming – to a degree," says Mark Feary, Gertrude Contemporary's artistic director. "It was kind of imbued with a history, but really, it was pretty grungy."

In contrast, he says, "Everyone that's come in [to the new space] has been gobsmacked by the clarity of the architecture and the physical scale. It's way more functional."

By square metre, the new digs are marginally smaller than the old. But a more considered, modern approach gives the opposite feeling: it's brighter, more versatile, more accessible and more communal.

Big glass windows stretch up from the floor across the wide street frontage. Inside it's like a warehouse, with a vast concrete floor and exposed ceiling and a mix of fluorescent lights and natural light from skylights.

Blonde plywood walls section off the 16 artist studios around the sides and back, with wide passages leading to a communal area.

And there's a spacious foyer that gives visitors pause for thought before they enter the exhibition space.

"It feels really good," says director of business operations Christine Tipton. "With Gertrude Street you always came directly into the exhibition so you were always – bam! – confronted immediately with it."

The crisp, white-walled exhibition spaces are front and centre of the fitout, encased in large, sliding walls that allow flexibility when curating.

The venue is also accessible in ways that the old one was not – including ramp access to a newly built bathroom.

"Gertrude Street was totally inaccessible – even the front gallery space had that awful step [at the entry way] ... so for our audiences I'm just thrilled," says Tipton.

For visitors who may never have ventured so far up the tram line, Gertrude has even created a guide to the neighbourhood, highlighting local bars, restaurants and other businesses.

The move was all about securing a long-term location for the organisation, with rising rents in trendy Fitzroy no longer feasible for the not-for-profit.

Eleven existing resident artists have followed it north to the new site, with four new artists joining on launch – about the normal rate of changeover during the residency cycle. About 80 per cent of Gertrude's resident artists live in Melbourne's north, says Tipton.

Tipton can't wait for the artists to start imbuing the site – like a blank canvas – with new memories, as so many had over three decades at the old site.

"It is like a shell, and it'll get those layers of personality added to it over time, which will be really lovely to see," she says.

The new Gertrude Contemporary will launch on Friday 28 July, 6pm to 8pm, alongside the annual "Octopus" flagship exhibition, Forever Transformed, curated by Next Wave director Georgie Meagher, which runs until September 9.

Gertrude Contemporary artist studios will be open to the public for Open House Melbourne 10am to 4.30pm on Saturday July 29 and 10am to 4pm on Sunday July 30, 21-31 High Street, Preston South. Full program at openhousemelbourne.org.