The Irish Architecture Foundation is delighted to present this year’s Open House Dublin: The Presence of the Past, 14-16 October 2016.

How do buildings tell a story of the development of Dublin, from a social, cultural and political perspective? In this celebratory year of revolution leading to Irish independence, we also want to reflect, remember and reimagine the city through Ireland biggest architecture festival. The Presence of the Past aims to tell the story through a contemporary lens of how cities are created and developed over time and the people that participate in the construction, design, development and of the built environment. It will also seek to uncover aspects of the past that we can implement in future built environment strategies and policies.

This year’s Open House Dublin will reveal how we plan and build our environment conveys a lot about our priorities at a given time in history, society, politics and culture. Therefore, architecture is more than a physical material that can be measured in centimetres. It is also about experience, memory and aesthetics, both immeasurable qualities, but crucially important in establishing and communicating the value of architecture to an audience.
Presence of the Past explores the central role of architecture in our society, how it frames and structures the patterns and practices of our collective life, from domestic to civic, from personal to public.

Volunteer with Open House 2016!

We have had some great volunteers over the years. Some have stayed with us, some have met friends, some have met lovers and some have danced the night away with us at our volunteers parties. Get in on the action and volunteer this year. All we ask is that you give us three or more hours over the weekend of 14 to 16 October. Your role is to be the face of Open House Dublin and we want you to be happy faces so we’ll try our best to return the favour. Full training (one evening) and a lovely Open House vest will be provided! In return we will love you loads, give you priority access to buildings on the programme (yes that means no queues) and we’ll throw you a party on the last night of Open House Dublin. Sure, why wouldn’t you help out?

To volunteer with us please fill in THIS FORM and we’ll be in touch soon!

Attention Architects! You can claim CPD points by volunteering at or attending Open House Dublin 2016.

Image: Ste Murray