Open House 2021

The Tagus river as the centre of Open House 2021

For the first time, the experience of architecture is lived together in the cities of Lisbon and Almada.
Open House Lisboa is known for opening doors to private houses and flats, reserved or technical areas in museums and theatres, among other contemporary buildings with different uses, and in 2021 the doors are opened to a whole new territory: Almada. With an area of 71 km², Almada comes out on the itinerary for this unique weekend to celebrate architecture, through a protocol signed between the Lisbon Triennale and the City Council of Almada.

Open House Lisboa celebrates its 10th edition by uniting the two cities over the Tagus river, and invests in a territorial expansion to join the two river banks in an accessible event that reaches the general public. Scheduled for the weekend of 25-26 September 2021, the motivation for this extension is based on the interest in diversifying and expanding the spatial itinerary, to reveal the peculiarities of the architectural works in this municipality together with those in the city of Lisbon.

Baldios is the landscape architecture collective selected to curate the 2021 edition, which is guided by the water lines in both urban areas. This proposal highlights the role of the Tagus river and its underlying potential to extend the city.

The Ways of Water
Open House Lisboa 2021 crosses the river to the other bank and expands to Almada. The guiding line of this edition's itinerary emerges from the Tagus and the water lines that flow into it, focused on the understanding of cities as landscapes shaped after a natural element.

Get inspired and embark on an expedition to urban architecture along The Ways of Water, exploring the ancestral paths that connect the cities to the river, settled along the slopes and valleys. In Lisbon, these paths reveal a deeply humanised topography that has given rise to terraces, walls, buildings, gardens, embankments, and channelisation. In Almada there are beaches, coves, piers, and industrial infrastructures that finish off the short, embedded valleys, contemplating Lisbon and the river as elements of a Common Landscape.
Let us follow the water!