Open House is a project with a 20 year-old tradition that is currently active in 12 cities situated in 9 countries. The Project is based on a simple concept: introducing excellent architectural achievements to the general public for free.
Open House initiatives invite everyone to explore and grasp the values of well-designed environments. Open House Project takes place in the following cities: London, New York, Dublin, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Helsinki, Melbourne, Galway, Barcelona, Chicago, Lisbon, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane; as well as in Slovenia, where the project has been renamed to Odprte hiše u Sloveniji (Open Houses in Slovenia); and where it refers to the whole country rather than just a particular city.
The Open House Project, i.e. Odprte hiše Slovenije was first launched in 2010, and as of October this year will be celebrating its third edition.
The first edition of Open Houses in Slovenia, in 2010, presented 45 facilities to the public; and a year later, that number jumped to 89 facilities and 15 accompanying events. Last year, the event was visited by over 2000 people, and the fact that the number of visits to the project’s webpage continues to rise; is a clear indication of interest for determining the quality of Slovenian architecture.
As it’s the case with the global project, the goal of the Slovenian organizers is to encourage improvement and development of the profession by including experts, economists, general public, and also adolescents as potential future buyers into the project – in order to create a more efficient dialog in the field of construction and planning. This year’s Open Houses will take place on October 6th – 7th, and more on the project can be found here.
Since its creation, Open House has become an important annual cultural event in the aforementioned cities and countries, raising awareness of quality architecture. The network of “open houses” is getting larger and larger every year, as more and more cities and countries join the project.
In addition to emphasis on the presentation of exceptional architecture and interiors to the public; other Open House “rules” demand completely free-of-charge entrance to the houses that are a part of the project; also the project’s organizers should be a non-profitable organization, independent of any and all political connections; and the overall goal of the entire project should be architectural education.
Click here for more on the Open House Project
