The Open House will return to Lisbon on the 11th and 12th of May with 74 spaces to visit, more than half of which are debuting, the organization of the event announced this Tuesday, which will guide 866 free visits around the capital.
The Cardaes Convent, on Rua d’OSéculo, or the Esquina Pombalina Apartment, on Largo do Corpo Santo, are some of the buildings that are part of the routes of this 13th edition of the Open House dedicated to the architecture of Lisbon, under the theme The Hybrids of Transitions.
From different eras and types, the program – with 48 debut spaces – includes everything from a 30 square meter concierge’s house to the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, a complex covering around 220 thousand square meters.
“To look at the hybridity that makes compatible what appears to be contradictory is to understand the complexity implicit in transforming the city, whether through rupture, continuity or everything in between”, highlighted the commissioner, this year in charge of Alexandre Marques Pereira and Sandra Marques Pereira, in a statement released by the organization, responsible for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale.
This year, Open House Lisboa presents more sensory visits and accessible activities, two visits carried out by children, integrated into the Junior Program consisting of readings and workshops.
In this program for the youngest, two visits made by young people will debut: the Ismaili Center, on the 11th of May, between 10:00 and 11:30, and the Escola do Castelo, on the 12th of May, between 11:00: 00 and 12:30.
Accessible activities are also planned, including an urban route in Telheiras Sul, adapted for people with reduced mobility, a visit to Palácio do Grilo, visits with interpretation into Portuguese Sign Language in Bairro das Fonsecas and Calçada.
There will also be tactile visits for blind or partially sighted people who will be able to access a set of materials and three-dimensional models at the Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional, Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar, Galeria da Avenida da Virgínia and Galeria Quadrum.
The program also includes five tours through different neighborhoods of Lisbon, and a new sound tour under the title “Things and people from many places in the world”, signed by Filomena Silvano, which invites you to get to know the different cultures that live between the Praças da Figueira , Martim Moniz and Chile.
This year, Open House Lisboa involves 100 experts and a team of more than 250 volunteers over a weekend in which the same event will also take place in the cities of Málaga, in Spain, and Rosario, in Argentina.
A concept created in 1992 by Victoria Thornton, the Open House Worldwide network has almost 60 cities around the world this Tuesday, such as London, Maputo, Osaka, Thessaloniki, Zagreb or Buenos Aires.
In Lisbon, the Open House has been held annually since 2012 in a co-organization that brings together the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and the Equipment Management and Cultural Entertainment Company, proposing the “discovery of spaces of different natures that demonstrate the decisive role of architecture in the lives of people and exemplify the value of built heritage”, highlights the organization.
In 2023, the Portuguese event became part of Open House Europe, a consortium that brings together 11 cultural organizations that this year are focusing on the dimension of accessibility in architecture.
