We attended the third Open House Europe conference in Athens
On 9 and 10 January, the third Open House Europe conference took place in Athens, organized by Open House Greece and co-organized by Open House Slovenia. The event brought together representatives from 27 Open House festivals worldwide, as well as architects, students, and architecture enthusiasts from across Europe.
The central theme, Heritage for the Future, opened up the question about the role of heritage in contemporary architecture and its significance for the future. The conference explored how the ideas, spaces, and practices we shape today can become the heritage of tomorrow, and how architecture can help us build a more inclusive, resilient, and connected European society. It also raised questions about which stories we wish to pass on, how to strike a balance between preservation and innovation, and in what ways collective action can influence the spaces we will co-create and ultimately inherit.
The internal part of the conference was dedicated to presentations of best practices from individual festivals, networking, and exploring the architectural heritage of the Greek capital. We also attended a reception at City Hall, hosted by the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas.
The rich public programme addressed heritage as a source of contemporary architectural practice through a series of panel discussions, examined the values and conditions shaping the future of architecture in Europe, and reflected on the potential of the Open House concept itself. The panel Heritage as a Building Material explored themes of architectural history and heritage through the projects of four architects, highlighting their role in present-day practice. Slovenian architects Maruša Zorec and Rok Žnidaršič also presented their work and shared their perspectives on heritage in architecture and in a broader cultural context.
On the panel discussion Shaping Future Tendencies and Values in Architecture, participants Matevž Čelik, architect, writer, cultural strategist and director of the European architectural platform LINA, Jonas Janke, architect, co-founder of studio b+ and member of the initiative group of the HouseEurope! campaign, Sergei Bazaryia, Head of the European Heritage Days programme, and Jutta Kastner, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, discussed the key forces and values shaping the future of architecture in Europe in a time of climate crisis, social change, and accelerating digitalisation. The discussion focused on which values should be preserved, reconsidered, or left behind, as well as on principles such as care, equality, sustainability, heritage, and openness that guide future spatial practices and architectural heritage.
Members of the final panel, Acting Locally, Sharing Globally: The Impact of Open House Across Regions, discussed the impact of Open House festivals and how collaboration between them fosters innovation and broadens access to architectural knowledge at both regional and global levels. Researchers also presented the latest findings from the three-year evaluation report on the activities of Open House Europe, and the discussion highlighted the role of cooperation in strengthening long-term regional and international connections.
All videos from the annual summit are available on the Open House Europe channel.
An annual activity of the Open House Europe project is the Visual Stories competition, where visitors of Open House festivals contribute diverse works—such as photographs, videos, sketches, and graphics—that explore and interpret the yearly architectural theme. This year, the competition focused on the theme Future Heritage. Among the works exhibited were three contributions from the Open House Slovenia festival.
The closing conference of the Open House Europe project once again provided a platform for exchanging knowledge, experiences, and visions for a more inclusive European architectural future. It also brought Open House festival organizers together to reflect on shared challenges, opportunities for collaboration, and the further development of a network that makes architecture accessible to a wider public.
Project Open House Europe is coordinated by Architektūros fondas and co-financed by the European Union.
In Slovenia, the Open House Europe project was also co-financed by the Ministry of Public Administration.
