Open House New York is the second city, following London, of what has become a worldwide movement to open up cities and engage citizens in conversations about how to shape the future of where they live.
The Open House concept started in London in 1992 as the brainchild of Victoria Thornton OBE, HonFRIBA, with the aim of fostering a better understanding of architecture outside the profession. The core of this idea lay in the direct experience of the buildings themselves, accessible for free to all, with opportunities to learn, discuss and debate with experts and citizens alike.
In 2019, almost 1 million people participated in Open House events with nearly 2 million visits to buildings enabled by more than 18,000 volunteers. Taken together, Open House Worldwide is the largest celebration of the urban landscape in the world.
Each Open House city is run as an independent organization but all adhere to a shared set of values and ideals that advocate for access and openness as fundamental to citizenship.
Official Open House Worldwide members:
- Open House Athens
- Open House Atlanta
- Open House Barcelona
- Open House Basel
- Open House Bilbao
- Open House Brisbane
- Open House Brno
- Open House Buenos Aires
- Open House Chicago
- Open House Dublin
- Open House Essen
- Open House Gdansk
- Open House Gdynia
- Open House Helsinki
- Open House Lagos
- Open House Limerick
- Open House Lisbon
- Open House London
- Open House Madrid
- Open House Melbourne
- Open House Mexico CIty
- Open House Milan
- Open House Monterrey
- Open House Naples
- Open House New York
- Open House Osaka
- Open House Oslo
- Open House Palma
- Open House Perth
- Open House Porto
- Open House Prague
- Open House Rosario
- Open House Rome
- Open House San Diego
- Open House Santiago
- Open House Seoul
- Open House Slovenia
- Open House Stockholm
- Open House Taipei
- Open House Tallinn
- Open House Thessaloniki
- Open House Turin
- Open House Valencia
- Open House Vilnius
- Open House Vienna
- Open House Zurich
