The Open House Dublin festival, a free celebration of architecture and urban design, will return to Ireland's capital from October 11-19, 2025. Organized by the Irish Architecture Foundation, this year's event promises to showcase exceptional architecture, innovative urban design, and the dedicated professionals who bring these visions to life throughout Dublin City and County.
Emmett Scanlon, architect, curator, and director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, emphasizes that architecture represents far more than physical structures. "Architecture is more than buildings; it's a living reflection of who we are and who we are becoming," Scanlon explained while introducing this year's festival programming. He believes that at its core, an architecture festival tells the stories that connect people to their places.
For two decades, Open House Dublin has encouraged residents of Dublin City and County to explore and experience their built environment across past, present, and future timeframes. The festival achieves this through an comprehensive program of events, educational talks, and guided tours that make architecture accessible to everyone. This year's theme, "Future Heritage," celebrates the festival's 20-year legacy while challenging society to reconsider how communities value and preserve their heritage for future generations.
The 2025 program features an extensive lineup of conversations, tours, workshops, and exhibitions designed to provide access to Dublin's architectural stories spanning different eras. Scanlon notes that year after year, Open House Dublin demonstrates the significant value and impact that excellent architecture and design have on everyone's daily lives. The festival comes at a particularly crucial time, as Dublin faces global challenges including housing shortages, building demolitions, vacant properties, and increasing climate concerns that have sparked public appetite for meaningful change.
To address these pressing issues, the festival introduces the "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" conversation series, which brings international speakers to Ireland to share their expertise on identity, building reuse, collaboration, LGBTQ+ spaces, and contested territories in today's built environment. Additionally, the Open Table series empowers community members to participate in expert-led discussions focusing on issues that directly affect people who live and work in Dublin.
Recognizing the importance of engaging younger generations, the Irish Architecture Foundation's Open House Junior program gives children and young people meaningful opportunities to share their perspectives and connect with Dublin's architectural landscape. The program includes a creative workshop with artist Asbestos that inspires children to envision future cities, as well as an interactive workshop at Georges Place where young participants can contribute to building reuse design projects. These initiatives aim to cultivate responsibility and care for the built environment among future community leaders.
O'Connell Street serves as the focal point of this year's visual campaign, embodying the powerful stories connected to Dublin's built environment and the contradictions they contain. For some residents, the street represents endless untapped potential, while for tourists and public transport users, it functions as a point of departure or arrival. The street operates simultaneously as both a monumental historical site and a space for ordinary everyday life, constantly gesturing between past and future while reflecting Dublin's living heritage.
Scanlon emphasizes that Open House Dublin celebrates the city's outstanding architecture and urban design while championing the thousands of individuals who contribute to Dublin's culture, creation, and care. The festival invites all community members to join the October celebration to share Dublin's stories while contributing their own perspectives to the ongoing conversation about the city's architectural future.
