The Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF) was delighted to announce highlights of Open House Dublin 2012 which took place from 5 to 7 October 2012. Over one weekend, almost 100 buildings of all types and periods opened up their doors to allow citizens and visitors explore the architecture of their city, with special tours by hundreds of professionals and enthusiasts, along with 40 other associated events, completely for free.

ARCHITECTURE ALIVE! was the theme of OPEN HOUSE DUBLIN 2012, and was an exploration of the vitality of Dublin through its architecture, and the people who experience it. Cities are fluid, they have the capacity to live, grow and develop and ARCHITECTURE ALIVE! wanted us to think about the impact buildings have on our lives and how they shape our environment and us.

The full programme of events was available free with the Irish Times on Thursday September 20, 2012, and online at www.architecturefoundation.ie/openhouse.

All Open House Dublin events are free of charge, and only a small proportion required pre-booking, which opened on Monday September 24, 2012.

Highlights included:
New Buildings:
Dublin Dental Hospital by McCullough Mulvin Architects,
Dublin City Council’s award-winning social housing Sean Treacy House by Paul Keogh Architects and
New Depot at Ballyogan by Dun Laoghaire – Rathdown County Council Architects Department with Bucholz McEvoy Architects.

We also took a fresh look at some classic buildings that have been around for a while, such as Michael Scott’s 1952 Donnybrook Bus Depot, and in co-operation with DoCoMoMo Ireland we were delighted to include Andy Devane’s 1976 St Fintan’s Church, Sutton, in this year’s Open House Dublin.

As well as building tours, Open House Dublin 2012 included Open House Junior, a series of creative and lively events to enable young participants to play architect for a day; Open Space walking, cycling and boat tours to explore the spaces between buildings; and O p e n M i n d s , a series of talks, discussions and exhibitions about our built environment on the theme of Architecture Alive!.

As part of ARCHITECTURE ALIVE! the Irish Architecture Foundation commissioned photographer Rich Gilligan to document the city’s architecture. These images became the poster campaign for the project and featured in an exhibition at the RHA Gallery during the Open House Dublin weekend.