Open House Europe Annual Summit 2025

Join us and delegates from 25 Open House festival cities across Europe for this unique opportunity to explore and discuss how accessibility and inclusion can reshape cities into places that are open, vibrant and welcoming for all.

The summit’s title, The City Invites, captures its essence — a call to action and a challenge to imagine cities as places that embrace diversity, celebrate inclusion, and thrive on collective creativity. By exploring themes such as participatory democracy, the creative reuse of existing structures, and universal design homes, the summit will delve into how urban spaces can evolve to promote inclusion, foster connections, and unlock their full potential for all inhabitants.

Dates:  30-31 January 2025

Venue:  The Printworks, Dublin Castle, Dame Street, Dublin 2

Accessibility:  If you require any accommodation or ISL services in order to attend the summit, please email us at info@architecturefoundation.ie or call us at 01 874 7200 and we will do our very best to accommodate you.

Programme – Opening night, Thursday 30 January

6-7pm, Open House Europe Visual Stories Exhibition launch reception

Every year, Open House Europe runs an international open call for visual stories, encouraging festival participants to share their views on architecture and reflect on the annual theme through photography, film, drawing and other visual art forms. This year’s theme is Access and Inclusion. The exhibition of selected Visual Stories will launch at the summit and then travel across Europe to Open House Europe partner organisations.

Reserve your place.

7-8:30pm, This City Imagined – A discussion on Dublin, thirty years in the making

It has been said that in Ireland architecture only became understood as a social, cultural and political force in 1991 when a young group of architects, Group 91, won the competition to transform a run down and nearly abandoned part of Dublin city, Temple Bar. Thirty years later, what can we learn from that project and from the reflections of the architects who, after Temple Bar, went on to achieve national and international acclaim? This chaired discussion is a unique opportunity to consider the possibility of architecture and the city, what we imagine the city to be, and how the reality comes to exist.

At the summit we will be joined by John Tuomey, Shane O’Toole, Siobhán Ní Éanaigh, Valerie Mulvin, Yvonne Farrell and Shay Cleary.

This conversation will be chaired by Christele Harrouk, Editor-in-Chief of ArchDaily and Emmett Scanlon, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation.

Within Group 91, there were eight practices and thirteen architects.

The practices are: Grafton Architects, O’Donnell and Tuomey Architects, McCullough Mulvin Architects, McGarry Ní Éanaigh Architects, Shay Cleary Architects, Derek Tynan Architect, Shane O’Toole, and Michael Kelly.

The architects are: Rachael Chidlow, Shay Cleary, Yvonne Farrell, Paul Keogh, Niall McCullough, Michael McGarry, Shelley McNamara, Valerie Mulvin, Siobhán Ní Éanaigh, Sheila O’Donnell, Shane O’Toole, John Tuomey, and Derek Tynan.

Reserve your place.

Panel discussions, Friday 31 January

9:45-11:30am, The City Belongs – Participatory democracy in city design and planning

This conversation explores the social and transformative potential of participatory democracy in design and urban planning in Europe’s cities. The aim is to explore how community involvement in decision-making creates more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable places. The panel will highlight strategies and share examples for empowering citizens to shape the environments they inhabit and uncover how collaboration between citizens, government actors, planners, and designers can transform not just the built environment but the way we connect and thrive as communities.

This panel will be joined by Aliénor Saint-Cast, Head of Studies at Plateau Urbain; Marta Ribera Carbó, European Project Director of The Shift; Ailbhe Cunningham, Architect and Founder of Ample Space; Akil Scafe-Smith and Seth Scafe-Smith, Co-Directors of Resolve Collective.

Moderated by Manijeh Verghese, CEO of Open City.

Reserve your place.

12-1:30pm, The City Reused – Unlocking potential in the city that is already built

This panel unlocks the innovative potential of reuse and creative adaptation in transforming structures, buildings, and spaces for cultural and creative use. By reimagining what already exists we can preserve our cultural heritage, reduce environmental impact, and breathe new life into spaces, making them accessible and welcoming to everyone. The discussion will highlight creative solutions to urban challenges, accessible innovations, and the impact on climate action, civic and cultural pride, and community resilience.

This panel will be joined by Barbora Ponešová and Marie Joja, Architects and Placemakers in Archipop; Timo Hauge, Head of the Industrial Heritage Team at Department for Culture, Sports and Industrial Heritage at Regionalverband Ruhr; Matthew Griffin and Britta Jürgens, Co-Founders of Deadline Architects; and Daniel Bell, Architect at Atelier LUMA.

Moderated by Cormac Murray, Architect, Lecturer at TU Dublin, and Series Editor at TYPE.

Reserve your place.

3-4:30pm, The City Includes – Housing for a city, accessible to all

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises the right of disabled people to adequate housing and to be included in the community. Article 19 affirms that disabled people have the right to live independently and to make their own choices on where and with whom they live. In practice, though, many disabled people cannot find housing to suit their needs and experience barriers to accessing housing, such as long waiting lists, unaffordability, and a lack of suitable housing. With experts by profession and experience, this panel explores how best to ensure that the principles of universal design are applied to design and construction. How do we ensure that services and support are there for people to live independently in their communities?

This panel will be joined by Fíonnadh McGonigle, Standards and Monitoring Officer at the National Disability Authority and Centre for Excellence in Universal Design; Nicola Ryan, Co-Director of Studio Red Architects; Jack Kavanagh, Director of Move the Needle; John Fulham, Public Engagement Manager at the Irish Wheelchair Association; and Felix Hemmers, Project Manager and curator at Baukultur Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Moderated by Louise Bruton, Freelance journalist, disability rights activist, DJ, and playwright.

Reserve your place.

Dublin Castle Tours

The OPW will host guided public tours of Dublin Castle at 2:00pm and 2:15pm on Friday 31 January. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come basis. You may register for the tours on arrival at the Printworks between 9:30am and 12:30pm.