Open House, the free two-week festival of London’s architectural heritage, has unveiled its line-up of buildings opening their doors to the public from 8 to 21 September
Highlights of the annual event, which spotlights compelling new and old architecture and urban landscapes in all of London’s 33 boroughs and published its listings today, include Richard and Su Rogers’ High-Tech house in Wimbledon, the Bank of England and Straw Bale House by Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till.
Other landmarks opening for free to the public include Mansfield Road, designed by Benson and Forsyth for Camden; ROOM, an inhabitable sculpture by Anthony Gormley forming part of Mayfair’s Beaumont Hotel; and the Leathersellers’ Hall livery company building, refurbished by Eric Parry Architects.
The David Adjaye-designed Fog House in Clerkenwell and the Khan Bonshek-designed Two-up Two-down House in Stratford also feature in the festival, which this year includes a series of specially curated collections picked by Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, architect Shahed Saleem and author Harriet Thorpe.
Other additions to this year’s Open House Festival include the introduction of nine headline neighbourhoods with programmes of free events: Aldgate, East Ham, Greenwich Peninsula, South Tottenham, Somers Town, Battersea, Walworth, Shepherd’s Bush, and Cambridge Heath.
Further additions to the programme include special tours of Dawson’s Heights designed by Kate Macintosh, and Vanbrugh Park Estate, designed by Chamberlin Powell and Bon, a demonstration of the Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, designed by Tom Randall-Page and music performances from a Sofar Sounds gig at the Aga Khan Centre in King’s Cross.
The 2022 Open House Festival is part of a year of programmes marking the 30th anniversary of its parent charity, Open City, which runs a year-round programme of educational activities, films, tours, and the weekly LNDDWN podcast, produced in association with the AJ.
Zoë Cave, chief curator of the Open House Festival said: "To mark the 30th anniversary of the Open House Festival we’ve curated our most dynamic and diverse programme to date. What other festival includes everything from free tours of the Bank of England to DJ sets in Bexley’s Old Library?
"I’m especially excited about the many private homes that will be part of the 30th anniversary festival from multi-million pound houses designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects to some of Britain’s best council estates. We’re going to have an amazing two weeks celebrating London’s urban landscapes, heritage and communities."
