Taking place on 17 and 18 May, Open House Brno is an annual architecture and urbanism festival which showcases locations that are usually inaccessible to the public. This year’s edition will feature 118 venues in Brno, including new openings such as Villa Wittal, the Lužánky Swimming Stadium, the Secondary School of Chemistry, the Grammar School on Pionýrská, and the new PKV offices in the CTP Vlněna complex. Traditional highlights of the event such as the Constitutional Court and AZ Tower will also be accessible.
“This year, we have prepared several intergenerational tours, some of which are guided by high school students or seniors,” explained Lucie Pešl Šilerová, Creative Director of Open House Brno, from the Culture & Management Association. “Children from the Brno City Theatre will also take part in theatrical performances. This is one of the ways we want to present the legacy of architecture to future generations and encourage discussion about the future of Brno across society.”
As part of the accompanying programme, the opening of the ‘Visual Stories’ exhibition from the Open House Europe festival consortium will take place today at 5 pm in the City Architect’s Office. The exhibition will showcase the winning entries from Visual Stories designers and will be on display until the end of May. Festival organiser Martin Pešl will open the event, with the opportunity to meet designers Samuel Petrovič and Nicola Sella.
On Saturday 17 May, families will have the opportunity to participate in a creative workshop called ‘Become the Architect of Nová Zbrojovka!’, and use various materials to build structures from their own designs, which they will then be able to place on a model of the area or take home. On Sunday 18 May, a drawing workshop focusing on architectural sketching will be held at the newly opened Villa Wittal, led by architect and designer Zdeněk Daniel. Throughout the weekend, there will also be intergenerational guided tours at various locations, including the BVV fairgrounds. Here, architect Jana Štěpánková and long-standing BVV employee Jiří Rousek will guide visitors through the ‘Living Laboratory’ exhibition.
Other locations holding guiding tours include: Tyršova Elementary School on Kuldova; the Faculty of Education; the former starch factory site at CTP Ponávka; and the Secondary Technical School and College on Sokolská. The aim of these activities is to showcase Brno’s architectural legacy from a variety of perspectives.
The festival takes place under the patronage of Brno’s mayor, Markéta Vaňková; the dean of the Faculty of Music at JAMU, Prof. Barbara Maria Willi; and the Governor of South Moravia, Jan Grolich.
A complete list of open buildings is available on the festival’s website.
