The 48h Open House Barcelona architecture festival returns on the weekend of 26 and 27 October for its 15th edition and asks the public, “How do you want to live?”

This year, the festival seeks to understand what is most important to city inhabitants from the perspective of architecture. To explore the answer to this central question, the value attributed to seven fundamental characteristics when designing and experiencing a space will be explored: brightness, strength, location, orientation, functionality, beauty, and comfort.

“We want people to ask themselves how they want to live and what is important to them in a space. We believe that it is necessary to highlight the values of architecture and make them tangible in order to be able to understand and claim an architecture that is appropriate for everyone,” says Elisenda Bonet, director of the festival and the 48h Open House Barcelona association.

The festival invites visitors to enjoy the urban landscape, offering 212 architectural activities, including visits to 205 buildings and spaces from different periods and styles across the Barcelona metropolitan area. The programme spans over Barcelona, Badalona, Sant Joan Despí, l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Vilassar de Dalt, and Sitges. With 80 never-before-seen spaces, everyone will find something new to explore and learn about the value of architecture.

Among the festival highlights are visits to Ernest Lluch School designed with recycled and sustainable materials, the offices of the Botanical Garden featuring a unique cylindrical floor plan, and a social housing development on Lola Iturbe Street, designed by architects Vicente Guallart and Daniel Ibáñez. 

Additionally, 48h Open House Barcelona offers activities for children under 12 years of age in different spaces of the cities in its Open Petits programme. These activities include visits with engaging content for the little ones and a special game involving the search for small houses hidden in 10 different locations.

Aligning with the Open House Europe 2024 programme, which raises questions of accessibility and inclusion in our cities, the festival will offer guided tours with tactile support, tours in sign language, and tours in barrier-free spaces. 48h Open House Barcelona also provides a map that highlights the degree of accessibility of the activities and the support available to visitors. Throughout the year, various activities have also been offered to provoke reflection on these issues, such as a round table discussion titled “Accessible architecture: inclusive city” during the Architecture Weeks organised by Barcelona City Council and the Mies Foundation.

We invite visitors of 48h Open House Barcelona to participate in the Open Call for Visual Stories. It is an opportunity for everyone to interpret their experiences of the festival and the annual theme of Open House Europe—Accessibility and Inclusion—in any art form they wish—a series of photographs, a short film, a drawing, or any other medium for a visual narrative.