Airbnb’s Headquarters in the Watermarque Building on South Lotts Road.
Pic : Ed Reeve
Who lives in a house like this? Find out this weekend with the 10th annual Open House Dublin architecture festival!
Organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation, the three-day festival sees the doors of many properties around Dublin opening their doors to the public. Tying in with this year’s theme of This Place We Call Home, many private residences will be among the almost 90 venues that will be taking part.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD praised the festival at its launch: “Open House Dublin is a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse inside some of the city’s most beautiful and interesting buildings, including a number of family homes. The event is designed to celebrate the best of Irish architecture and it will appeal to anyone with a curious nature or an eye for good design. I have no doubt that the 2015 event will prove to be another resounding success and I would encourage as many people as possible to check out the buildings involved.”
Some of the properties that will be hosting the public in Dublin 4 are the Fitzwilliam Quay development in Ringsend, the Barrow Street project and Heneghan Peng Architects’ Airbnb European Headquarters in the Watermarque Building on South Lotts Road.
The Barrow Street project.
Pic: OMP Architects
During the course of organising Open House Dublin, the IAF noticed that eight of the properties taking part in the event were Airbnb hosts. Therefore, a special evening has been organised along the festival’s theme of This Place We Call Home, inviting some of these property owners to share with the audience members their experience of opening their homes to the public. This talk will be taking place tonight from 7 to 9pm in Airbnb’s HQ, so contact the venue at hostdublin@airbnb.com to reserve your place.
Director of the IAF, Nathalie Weadick spoke of the festival’s aims: “Over the last decade, Open House Dublin has highlighted good design and raised the profile of architecture. This year, we hope to take this achievement further: our intention is to build upon the festival’s annual celebration of the county’s best architecture and to inspire a better understanding of the processes and places that define our very rhythms and routines.”
You can find out about all of the events happening around the city across Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the Open House website!
By Aimée Mac Leod
