What We Do

With 20 years' experience, Open-City helps to challenge perceptions, break down barriers and inspire people to demand high-quality places for current and future generations. Our pioneering programmes and initiatives are designed to meet the needs of decision-makers, young people and the wider community, and it is the success of these that has positioned us as a progressive and influential authority amongst these groups.

Open-City has developed an approach that focuses on offering opportunities to:

- Learn by experiencing and exploring
- Build understanding and knowledge
- Express views
- Use knowledge to influence policy and practice

Our programmes are shaped by our three main target audiences:

Engagement for the public
Enabling all Londoners to experience and learn about the capital’s most interesting and significant architecture.

Open House London
22-23 September 2012
Open House London celebrates all that is best about the capital’s buildings, places and neighbourhoods. Every September is your unique opportunity to get out and under the skin of London’s amazing architecture, with over 700 buildings of all kinds opening their doors to everyone – all for free.

Open House Worldwide
Open House' is a simple but powerful concept: showcasing outstanding architecture for all to experience, completely for free. Open House initiatives invite everyone to explore and understand the value of a well-designed built environment. The concept has been established in over 20 cities around the world including London, New York, Melbourne, Rome and many more.

Year Round Architecture Tours
This year we celebrate the 20th birthday of Open-City the organisation and the Open House Annual Event seeing an exciting expansion of our year-round programme with the addition of special tours and events to our already popular weekly Saturday morning explorations under the 2012 theme of 'The Changing Face of London'.

Education programmes
 Providing architectural education for students in London’s schools; involving young people in the design of spaces and places.

Accelerate! Into University Mentoring Scheme
Accelerate! is a brand new mentoring programme for students in years 11 and 12 at London state schools, delivered in partnership with UCL and Make Architects, to widen access to higher education architecture-related courses.

Architecture in Schools Primary
Architecture in Schools: Primary is a comprehensive and packed programme for primary school students in year 5 and 6 (8-11 year olds). The programme brings students into contact with key pieces of exemplary London architecture. Building explorations encourage young people to become ‘architectives’, to look for clues, learn design skills and see ways in which people use space. This direct experience leads on to creative workshops in the classroom.

Architecture in Schools Secondary
Architecture and the built environment is something that has an impact on all our daily lives but it is the one thing we generally don’t learn about. Open-City has been delivering architecture education programmes for over 10 years and works with 3,000 young people a year. All of our education programmes are FREE to state schools and draw on our experience as a leader in the field of architecture education.

My Green School
My Green School is an initiative developed by Open-City to give children aged 7 to 11 across the UK the opportunity to learn about, and be inspired by sustainable architecture through first hand investigations of their own school building.

Advocating good design amongst decision-makers
 Working with local authority officers and councillors, regeneration professionals and developers, and other decision-makers to advocate for good design throughout the city. This includes policy and decision making related to art in public spaces.

 

 

 

...