Open House Dublin returns with a nine-day programme, taking place from October 12 to 20! With over 200 free events, including guided tours, workshops, exhibitions, and more, the festival offers a unique opportunity to discover Dublin city and county as a place of belonging for all.

This year’s festival will start with a dedicated Junior weekend for children and families on October 12 and 13, with the main programme of events, including tours of buildings, outdoor spaces, and residences, taking place from October 18 to 20. In between, the popular Open Table conversations series is returning and will take place daily from October 14 to 18 at this year’s festival info hub located on Charlemont Walk. These lunchtime discussions will cover topics such as mental health and the built environment, immigration, the right to the city, gender-sensitive place-making, and ageing in place, led by various experts.

Among the festival’s highlights is a special event titled “When Dublin Met Paris,” which will be held on October 19 at the Lighthouse Cinema. The event will feature visiting guests Marion Waller, director of the Pavillon de l’Arsenal centre for architecture and urbanism in Paris, and French architect Nicolas Guérin from NP2F-architectes. They will discuss urban transformation and the parallels between Dublin and Paris.

New additions to this year’s festival include several exhibitions at Charlemont Walk, such as ‘Squashed Habitats’, which explores Dublin’s housing crisis, and ‘Bí Linn’, focused on Queer domesticities. Twelve architectural studios around Dublin will open to the public between October 15 and 20, offering behind-the-scenes access to how architects design the city and its buildings. Among many newly added tours happening on October 19 and 20 are visits to The Lark Concert Hall, Harcourt Terrace Primary School, and walking and cycling tours of the brand new Tolka Estuary Greenway. For younger participants, an online LEGOⓇ competition will invite children everywhere to get building. And for people who like surprises, a Mystery Tour has been added this year of an OPW-owned building on October 19.

Open House Dublin is inviting people to take a second look at familiar places and to consider if they themselves are reflected in the built environment, architecture, and infrastructure of Dublin city and county, including in relation to essential aspects such as transport and housing, as well as recreational and green spaces.

One of the key focuses of the festival is to explore accessibility and inclusion, aligning with the broader goals of the Open House Europe 2024 programme. The inclusive approach of Open House Dublin features several specially designed events, including tactile tours with 3D models for people with visual impairments, Irish Sign Language tours, and tours of The Wayfinding Centre, which replicates the real-world experience of using public transport to empower people with an access needs through practical training and hands-on experience.

We invite visitors of Open House Dublin 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.