Everyone loves the weekend but at DNL Build we’re particularly excited about this weekend (22nd & 23rd September), when the world’s largest architecture festival “Open House London” sees over 800 of London’s buildings, walks and talks open their doors to the public.
About Open House
The concept was first born in 1992 with the inaugaral Open House London, aimed at inspiring the public by exhibiting some of the best of London’s design. Since then, over 35 countries across 5 continents have joined in, opening the doors of some of their prized pieces of architecture to the public.
Open House work to bring the people who build the city (engineers, architects, developers and contractors) together with the people who live in the city, because they believe that great architectural design can do wonders to transform and improve the lives of the public.
We at DNL Build along with the architects that we partner with definitely agree!
What’s on during Open House 2018
This year, Open House have a huge number of London boroughs participating. Some feature buildings that are open for the public to explore whilst other exhibitions are walks through gardens.
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Barking & Dagenham
- Barnet
- Bexley
- Brent
- Bromley
- Camden
- City of London
- Croydon
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Hammersmith & Fulham
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Havering
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kensington & Chelsea
- Kingston
- Lambeth
- Lewisham
- Merton
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Richmond
- Southwark
- Sutton
- Tower Hamlets
- Waltham Forest
- Wandsworth
- City of Westminster
Find out more about the buildings, walks and talks available in each borough, as well as the dates that they’re open by visiting the Open House Website.
Top 10 Homes to explore during Open House London 2018
Valetta House by Office S&M
Two members of Office S&M, Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen own this Victorian house in Ealing and made a number of creative additions during their home refurbishment project. They created extra space with a loft conversion and introduced a colour scheme that denotes specific areas for the grown up and junior members of the household.
71 Valetta Road, W3 7TG
Garden House by Hayhurst & Co
Whitaker Malem, the leather-design duo living in this Hackney property love its steep roof covered in plants. Including sedums and heathers, the roof has been likened to a hanging basket.
27 Buckingham Road, N1 4DG
Sun Rain Rooms by Tonkin Liu
Architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu live in this Georgian townhouse in Clerkenwell. Their curved extension and plant covered dome roof won the property first prize in the latest Don’t Move, Improve! awards.
5 Wilmington Square, WC1X 0ES
Holland Park House by Architecture for London and Liddicoat & Goldhill
This property had an open plan layout and a rear extension added to its original 1966 design created by architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew.
73 Woodsford Square, W14 8DS
Tin House by Henning Stummel Architects
This quirky design lets light in through skylights that top each and every block. Architect Henning Stummel lives in these six small red buildings around a simple courtyard.
Smugglers Yard, Devonport Road, W12 8PB
15 Clerkenwell Close by Groupwork and Amin Taha
Totally unique, the slabs that make up this property were hand carved and then fitted together to feature the structural exoskeleton of raw quarried stone. It was a contender in the housing category of the Dezeen Awards.
15A Clerkenwell Close, EC1R 0AA
Sunken Bath Project by Studio 304
This small property benefited from a home extension allowing more bathing space rather than the typical kitchen extension often given to Victorian properties across London. It was the winner of the 2017 Don’t Move, Improve! awards.
Ground Floor Flat, 33 Dunlace Road, E5 0NF
The Collective Old Oak
This cooperative housing model is the largest co-housing development in the world and offers an insight into the concept of social living. This is a trend that is growing currently, with cooperative or social living being favoured as it provides access to facilities that may otherwise be unavailable to residents.
Nash House, Old Oak Lane, NW10 6FF
Islington Micro Flat by CIAO
This small apartment has a small floor plan of 35-square metres! It demonstrates how to make the most of space in your home and was designed by CIAO director Diego Dalpra.
Flat B, 23 Islington Park Street, N1 1QB
Red House by 31/44 Architects
The Red House is situated on the end of a row of terraced houses in East Dulwich. A lightwell at the centre is filled with plants and a fireplace, and sits inside the open-plan living space.
37 St Aidans Road, SE22 0RN
All of these designs look amazing, no doubt the rest of the 800+ buildings open to the public in London this weekend won’t disappoint either! If you want to learn more about the partnerships that DNL Build have with architects, head to this page.
