Press release: Janet Street-Porter, Shahed Saleem and Harriet Thorpe to guest curate 2022 Open House Festival

Aug 18

Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, architect Shahed Saleem and author Harriet Thorpe have been announced as the first ever guest curators of London’s Open House Festival.

Each of the celebrated writers has worked on curating a section of the Open House Festival programme, which this September is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a fortnight of tours, free events and publications exploring London’s housing, architecture and landscapes.

Janet Street-Porter, former editor of The Independent on Sunday and a regular Loose Women host has curated a selection of her favourite London architecture which will be open for public visits during the Open House Festival. Her choices include, among others, 35 Clerkenwell Close, a house she personally commissioned in 1996 designed by the world-famous architect David Adjaye; Pocket House, an ingenious 2018 home designed by architects Tikari Works in Dulwich; and Fitzrovia Chapel designed by John Loughborough Pearson which Street-Porter described as ‘everything I want from a building – really sexy’.

Shahed Saleem, architect, author and Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. Has curated a selection of buildings and spaces that form a walk designed to guide you through some of his favourite architecture in the East End of London. The walk starts us at Christ Church Spitalfields designed by Nikolas Hawksmoor and passes us by Ali Altab Park in Whitechapel, landscape design by MUF Architecture. Other highlights of his collection include Idea Store by world-famous architect David Adjaye and Toynbee Hall Designed by Elijah Hoole on the foundations of a former boys’ school which Saleem describes as being one of the many hearts of the East End.

Harriet Thorpe, co-author of the upcoming book The Sustainable City has curated a selection of buildings and landscapes that will be open for free public visits during the Open House Festival all of which relate to the climate emergency by embodying aspects of ecological architecture and sustainable design. Her choices include Stock Orchard Street, a straw bale house and office designed by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects; Sands End Arts and Community Centre designed by Mae Architects which is built from 35% recycled materials; and BedZED, a pioneering 2002 eco village in the London borough of Sutton which has been home to a thriving low carbon community for two decades.

The 2022 Open House Festival which runs from the 8th to the 21st of September will be the first to include special guest curators as part of Chief Curator Zoë Cave’s plans to make the festival more inclusive and diverse.

Cave said: ‘The three guest curators are all celebrated Londoners from different backgrounds who have worked alongside the Open House Festival team to identify themes and narratives that will help visitors explore the extensive festival programme. I’m thrilled with the curatorial decisions they have made from Janet Street-Porter including her own former home, to Harriet Thorpe selecting some of the most pioneering sustainable buildings in London.’

The guest curators’ events and tours will be announced in full in late August when the Open House Festival programme opens for bookings at www.openhouse.org.uk.

Images

For headshots of the Open House Festival guest curators click here.

For images of some of the guest curator’s selections including Janet Street-Porter’s former house and Harriet Thorpe’s curated collection of ecological architecture selections click here.

Quotes

Janet Street-Porter said of selecting her own former home, 35 Clerkenwell Close to be part of the Open House Festival:

‘This is the house David Adjaye designed for me (he called it the Fog House, which I found very pretentious) and which we had a very public falling out over. I bought a brick Victorian warehouse building which had been a leather tanning factory, partly modernised and used as a studio by the artist Marc Quinn. Adjaye added a glass top floor and rear extension, making it a house on five levels with two bedrooms and bathrooms. It is designed to be secret from the outside, all the windows are frosted and it was painted a dark grey to reinforce its neutrality. Again, the planners weren’t very helpful and made us retain the side windows, which aren’t even old.’

Janet Street-Porter said of selecting Fitzrovia Chapel to be part of the Open House Festival:

‘When I die, I do not want a funeral, you can burn me without any ceremony. I have left money for a big party for my friends (and enemies). I would love it to be held here, one of the most magical interiors in central London, a small chapel built in high Gothic style, with opulent shimmering gold interiors. It once stood in the courtyard of the Middlesex Hospital, which has been demolished, and a new development surrounds it – but the chapel more than holds its own. Every surface is carved or covered with mosaic, the floor is a patchwork quilt of colours and patterns. Not surprisingly, it has been used by pop stars and fashion designers as a backdrop- a hugely popular Alexander McQueen exhibition was shown here earlier this year. It is everything I want from a building – really sexy.’

Harriet Thorpe said of the selection of sustainable buildings she has chosen to be part of the Open House Festival:

‘Sustainability needs to be part of every conversation. Cities account for about 70 percent of global carbon emissions even though they occupy just three per cent of the world’s surface. If we are to unlock a greener future for the world, ensuring cities are built and operated more sustainably is an increasingly urgent task. As well as being green, all the buildings I have curated for the 2022 Open House Festiva promote sustainable social ecosystems of living, working, playing and sharing in the city too.’

Open House Festival Guest Curator Bios

Janet Street-Porter

Janet Street-Porter is a writer, broadcaster and former editor of the Independent on Sunday but she originally studied architecture before starting her journalistic career in her early twenties and then moving into television and radio as a presenter and senior executive.

She appears regularly on ITV’s Loose Women, and has presented television series on subjects as diverse as contemporary British art, walking, cooking and architecture, as well as reality shows like Im a Celebrity… and So You Think You Can Teach. She has commissioned two houses by leading architects and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Shahed Saleem

Shahed Saleem is an architect, author and Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. His research and practice explore the architecture of diaspora communities, in particular their relationship to heritage, belonging and nationhood. Saleem’s design and research has been recognised widely. His book, ‘The British Mosque, an architectural and social history’, was published by Historic England in 2018 and is the first comprehensive account of Muslim architecture in Britain. He co-curated the V&A Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2021.

Harriet Thorpe

Author and journalist Harriet Thorpe explores these optimistic, sustainable buildings in London and more in her new book The Sustainable City, published by Hoxton Mini Press (Sept, 2022) and available to buy here. After cutting her teeth on the architecture desk at the world’s leading design magazine, Wallpaper*, she decided to tighten her focus to writing about sustainable architecture in her home city. Though she was born in Cambridge, after over 10 years living in London, she considers herself a proud Londoner. When not at her desk, Harriet loves zooming around east London on her bike in the sunshine and swimming at the epic, Zaha Hadid-designed Olympic pool.