Housing and the People — 9 April, 2022

WORLDWIDE FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, 9 APRIL, 2022
ONLINE, FREE

The pandemic has turned the design of housing and neighbourhoods on its head, transforming perspectives and aspirations across the globe. Simultaneously, profound shifts in technology, climate and social conventions are rewriting the rulebook of domestic life. As households the world-over change in size, composition, values and dreams, how should the architecture of our homes and the layouts of our neighbourhoods evolve to match?

From Berlin’s mietskasernen to Accra’s compound houses, and from the mews terraces of London to the casa chorizo dwellings of Buenos Aires and the mighty Hof and apartment blocks of Vienna and Milan, communities everywhere have long created distinctive and scalable urban housing forms rooted in diverse cultural contexts and local traditions.

What lessons can the pioneering architects of tomorrow learn from the ingenious and indigenous domestic designs of yesterday? How can the cities of the future build low-carbon homes at the huge scale required to accommodate growing populations while retaining their rich character and townscapes?

Wrapped within webs of economic, political, aesthetic and cultural complexity, there is no greater challenge nor more exciting opportunity facing cities and citizens everywhere than shaping the future of their housing. Created by the Open House Worldwide network, this one-day festival will stage a remarkable programme of live-broadcast online tours exploring extraordinary dwellings, estates and neighbourhoods across the globe.

Overlaid with critical debate and bold proposals, the festival will reveal the spaces and interiors of internationally-acclaimed archetypal homes and innovative public housing projects in real time; from Lagos to Barcelona, Mexico City to Zurich. Join Open House Worldwide live, as we seek global answers to the question of what makes housing a home.