On 9 and 10 January, Open House Athens will host the third Annual Summit of Open House Europe. Co-organised with Open House Slovenia and Open House Thessaloniki, the summit will bring together delegates from 28 Open House cities for an exciting two-day conference at The Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall. The summit’s public programme will explore how the built environment we shape today may become tomorrow’s legacy.

At the heart of this year’s public programme is Future Heritage, the theme guiding the 2025 season of Open House Europe. The Summit will explore how the ideas, spaces, and practices we shape today may become the legacy of tomorrow, and how architecture can help us imagine a more inclusive, resilient, and interconnected European future. What stories do we choose to carry forward? How do we balance preservation and innovation? And in what ways can collective engagement influence the spaces we inherit?

Through a series of presentations and panel discussions, the event will examine heritage as a resource for contemporary practice, the values shaping the future of architecture in Europe, and reflect on the potential of the Open House model itself. Together, these conversations invite participants to rethink the relationship between past, present, and future and to consider how public engagement with architecture can support long-term cultural and spatial transformation.

The public programme commences on the evening of Friday, January 9, with the opening of the third Open House Europe Visual Stories exhibition. This showcase features a selection of interpretations and reflections on the Future Heritage theme, submitted by visitors of the partner festivals all across Europe. The evening will continue with a welcome address by the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, followed by a series of presentations titled Embracing Future Heritage delivered by leading Greek architects and designers, including PILA studio, Eleftheria Deko, and K-Studio.

The second day of the public programme, Saturday, January 10, comprises three key panel discussions and a lecture. The morning session, Heritage as a Building Material, will explore what it means to work with heritage as a resource for contemporary practice and if historical narratives and materials can enable more meaningful, site-specific architecture. Contributing to this discussion are Slovenian architects Rok Žnidaršič, co-founder of Medprostor, and Maruša Zorec, founder of Arrea Architecture, alongside Greek architects Dionisis Sotovikis, member of the board of directors of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, and a representative from XZA Architects. Discussion will be moderated by the Architecture and Design Editor at ‘ek’ magazine, Stavros Martinos.

The conversation will shift to policy and ethics at midday with the second panel, Shaping Future Tendencies and Values in Architecture. Focusing on the policy side of heritage, this panel will explore the fundamental forces and values influencing the future of architecture in Europe. Moderated by Greek political scientist Stathis N. Kalyvas, the discussion will ask: What values must we uphold, reinvent, or let go of? The panel will bring together advocates and policymakers – Matevž Čelik, architect and Head of the European architecture platform LINA; Jonas Janke, architect, Co-Founder of studio ‘b+’ and part of the initiators team of the ‘HouseEurope!’ campaign; Sergei Bazaryia, programme manager of the European Heritage Days; and Jutta Kastner, policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.

The final panel, Acting Locally, Sharing Globally, focuses on the impact and regional possibilities of the Open House format itself. Speakers will discuss how cooperation between festivals leads to innovation and broader outreach in democratising knowledge about architecture. The session will present the latest monitoring report on Open House Europe and feature insights from international representatives on how collaboration strengthens global connections. The panel includes Tadas Šarūnas, Lithuanian sociologist completing impact research on the project; Martynas Germanavičius, Project Lead of Open House Europe; Tania Davidge, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Open House Melbourne, establishing Open House Australia; and Robert Newcombe, British architectural designer and Co-Founder of Open House Santiago. The panel will be moderated by Manijeh Verghese, CEO of Open City, which founded the Open House format and the Open House Worldwide network.

The summit will conclude in the evening with a closing lecture by Theodore Spyropoulos, architect and educator, Director of the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory in London, Co-Founder of Minimaforms, and Resident Artist at Somerset House.

Open House Europe is a cooperation project, co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by Architektūros fondas.