practice

My City?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning of September, we received a visit from a friend who is from London, he brought with him a program for the upcoming “Open House London”, I went through the program and became really surprised by its contents. The organization Open House is an independent organization which once a year manages to open the door of some of the most important buildings in the city, I am talking of around 690 different sites, from classical historic buildings to high end houses and contemporary architecture. This means you could go and visit any of this variety of sites and actually have an in site guide to explain the building. It is open to public in general, so in that way they connect to the public in general and try to bring them up close and personal with architecture. This becomes a powerful tool, because it is not closed to people with architectural background, which means there is a direct involvement of society in general. Presenting the city as it is, showing what architecture in all its scales does to the city. On the other hand allowing everyone to live the space as it is, definitely not the same as learning from them in books or through pictures. I believe this organization is a step forward into helping general public to learn the importance of architecture for their everyday lives, and to help the authorities involved in city planning to learn how to manage better decisions, including everyday citizens opinion’s in them. Wouldn’t you just love to be able to visit those buildings that you always see in magazines or books? Wouldn’t you like to touch the stones that make up a building you know? Wouldn’t it be nice to check a construction detail up close and personal?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe architecture has to be lived, touched and experienced, it can not remain in a digital or 2d environment, and this is the knowledge this kind of programs can give away. Unfortunately in other countries, you have to pay to get in some buildings, or you will never be able to visit them, and others are not even open for visiting, creating a boundary between people and architecture, they do not get mixed in decisions, and people who make this decisions do not have the knowledge and the feedback of the citizens who do live the city.

All this just makes me wonder if I really know my city, or even if I am part of it at all.

Shouldn’t we encourage and support this kind of programs in our own cities in order to fill them as ours?

http://www.londonopenhouse.org/

photo “Central London from the sky” flickr by silyld photographer - Dr. David J. Otway

photo “Trafalgar Square No. 2″ flickr by Dan Wade

© 2008 we have NO VISION.