Finding new ways to open up the city … Meet the woman behind London’s Open House festival

It is only fitting that an organisation which celebrates the best of architecture should be housed in an interesting building itself – and Open City certainly is. BD met Verghese at the charity’s headquarters in Architecture00’s C1 building in the satisfyingly eclectic Greenwich Design District located near the O2 Arena in south-east London.

The district is a collection of 16 office and workspace buildings for creative companies, designed by upcoming practices and masterplanned by HNNA. Its clashing – almost disconcerting – mix of styles is a provocatively cool addition to the Greenwich Peninsula; and a great location for London’s access-all-areas architecture charity.

Ten months in post, Verghese was keen to talk about her plans for Open City – the organisation behind London’s annual September Open House architecture festival – which describes itself as a charity “dedicated to making London and its architecture more open, accessible and equitable”. Its website puts it like this: “We open up buildings, conversations and careers to those normally locked out of them.”

As this tagline hints, Verghese’s vision for the charity involves reaching out beyond the usual audiences to engage different London communities in the Open House experience; and broadening the scope of spaces included in the programme. She is keen to reach those who have not traditionally attended or offered their spaces to be part of the event.

“We’re starting to benchmark against London’s population to make sure the festival truly reflects the city itself,” she explains.

Verghese says the charity is also developing its messaging to emphasise the wider benefits of participation, from “an improved sense of belonging” to “a feeling that you can have a voice in shaping the future of the city”. She notes that new people are already stepping forward to share their spaces and organise events, the result of “building networks, and slowly building trust”.

As she puts it: “It takes time but, if we’re not starting to sow those seeds, those connections may never happen.”

What is architecture?

The criteria for inclusion in Open House have also changed over the years. They were simpler in the beginning: architectural merit and historic interest. But now the criteria are expanding to encompass other spaces, where the people inhabiting the space may be the most important thing.

“It isn’t for us to say what is and isn’t architecture,” she reflects. “We want to encourage people to share their definitions with us, and to use the festival as a means to broaden the traditional concept of architecture.”

Verghese says the city is shaped as much by communities as by buildings. “So much of what makes the city are all these incredible groups of people who come together to make things happen, and that doesn’t always have to be in a building, it could be in an outdoor space, or in a park.”

Open City wants to capture those stories too, but she stresses that the festival, which runs from 13 to 21 September, is about places not usually accessible. “It’s just important that the space isn’t generally open to the public for the rest of the year, because the Open House Festival is about opening up spaces that are normally off limits.”

Alongside these new spaces, London’s iconic buildings remain as popular as ever with the Open House crowd. Homes are another festival favourite. Verghese recalls: “I remember last year I went to a house where the architect talked to us visitors about what they had done to make it a better place to live for a growing family; why they’d added that kind of extension, and so on.”

She says the impact on visitors was clear. “It was great just to watch the visitors. You could almost see the lightbulbs going on in their heads as they realised, ‘I could do this in my home!’ It was wonderful to see.”

Verghese sees this as an example of how the festival can highlight the value of architecture to cities. “Open House is a platform that has the potential to develop direct exchange between architects and the public, too,” she says.

She adds that it is encouraging to see architects present their ideas to a public audience and respond to questions. “I think it’s potentially a great place for architects to get new jobs as well. That’s a possibility I’d love to explore more.”

In my early years of going to Open House I wanted to see iconic architecture. But, more and more, I just want to go into interesting spaces in my neighbourhood that I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to access

Reflecting on her own experience as a visitor, she says: “In my early years of going to Open House I wanted to see iconic architecture. But, more and more, I just want to go into interesting spaces in my neighbourhood that I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to access.”

Verghese believes the diversity of spaces in the programme is part of its strength. “I do also think that, because we have a real mix of residential, faith spaces, civic spaces, cultural spaces, social housing, Open House is also a really important platform for advocacy and activism.”

Curating the capital

To help people to navigate through the hundreds of buildings, guest curators pick collections of themed buildings. This year’s curators include artist and spatial designer Sahra Hersi; Justine Simons, the deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries; Jos Boys of DisOrdinary Architecture; and Claudia Kenyatta and Emma Squire, joint chief executives of Historic England.

As well as the annual festival this month, Open House runs a year-round programme of frequent walking, cycling and boat tours to appreciate architecture. Verghese recommends their regular architecture boat trips down the Thames. They run courses to train tour guides, too.

The job at Open City is a dream come true for Verghese, who loves nothing better than a bit of archi-tourism herself, and is passionate about widening access to London’s most special places.

Having trained as an architect, she soon transitioned into writing and curation, and then teaching. Before taking up her role at Open City, she was head of public engagement at the Architectural Association, where she also taught a design studio for many years.

She runs Sphere, her own curatorial practice, too, with a focus on widening access to cultural conversations about architecture and culture.

As part of the curation duo Unscene Architecture, she co-curated the 2021 British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which explored the privatisation of the public realm, an issue close to her heart. Verghese has also worked on the South Asia Gallery at the Manchester Museum. She is an external examiner on the MArch programme at the Bartlett, and sits on the board of trustees for the Architecture Foundation and on the advisory board for DisOrdinary Architecture.

Origins of Open House

Open City itself was founded as Open House in 1992 by Victoria Thornton, doyenne of architectural education, with just 20 buildings. She has since gone on to establish the Thornton Education Trust with a mission to engage young people in the built environment.

Verghese first encountered Open House as an architecture student, volunteering “because I wanted to visit all the iconic buildings and, at that point, if you were a volunteer, you could skip the queue, which you can’t do anymore,” she says with a smile. “It still feels quite surreal all these years later that I get to actually wake up every day and work here.”

The festival has proved incredibly popular, expanding every year so that last year more than 275,000 visitors explored around 850 buildings and events, supported by over 700 volunteers, in the largest festival of its kind in the world. The model has since expanded beyond London, with copycat open-house-style architecture festivals springing up in other UK cities, including York, Manchester and Bristol, though securing sustained funding outside the capital has proved tricky.

Open City now acts as coordinator to a network of 61 organisations which hold similar open-house events around the world. In 2023, 1.2 million people visited 6,250 buildings and activities as part of Open House festivals, facilitated by 14,460 volunteers, in cities from Hong Kong to Lagos, Buenos Aires to Taipei. The international programme offers plenty of choice for anyone planning a trip, and the global schedule can be explored online.

Programme for young people

As well as Open House, Open City runs a range of educational programmes that are less well known. Verghese is particularly proud of Accelerate, the charity’s free scheme for 16 to 18-year-olds from under-represented backgrounds, which helps them to explore careers in the built environment.

“The idea is that, through practical workshops and mentoring, we will equip them with the skills, portfolios, networks and confidence they need to be able to make informed choices about careers in the sector,” she explains.

She describes Accelerate as “one aspect of what we do that I am most proud of”. Each cohort now has 120 participants and works with six higher education partners, including UCL, Central Saint Martins, UAL, Kingston, the Architectural Association and, most recently, Ravensbourne. The programme also runs in Birmingham as well as in London.

One outcome she highlights is the way in which former participants are now returning to work as assistant curators for the Open House festival. “It’s just brilliant to see,” she says. “They get to help shape the festival to make sure it will reach a younger audience.”

She adds that the timing of the festival is also significant. “The festival falls during freshers’ week at most universities, and I can’t think of a better way to get introduced to a new city than getting to go into all these interesting places for free.”

The charity’s education work is also expanding and it offers a range of programmes for younger children too. Expanding the reach of these programmes and finding ways to cascade delivery is a priority on Verghese’s to-do list.

Open City also makes great short reels on social media about London’s built environment. And has a podcast featuring architecture news and building profiles.

Mayor’s design advocate

Verghese is also one of the mayor of London’s 42 design advocates, a group of practitioners, academics, policymakers and community representatives chosen by Sadiq Khan to help deliver the Good Growth by Design programme. The initiative seeks to promote quality and inclusion in the built environment through research and best practice in architecture, urban design and place-shaping.

She describes the role as inspiring and empowering. One project she highlights is the Safety in Public Space for Women, Girls and Gender-Diverse People guidance developed by Publica.

“To test whether it worked, we visited 10 projects with funding from the mayor, of different scales and at different points in their development. The whole experience was amazing. It made me realise that it is possible to make change happen in the city.”

A key part of her contribution, she says, was helping project teams to find ways to apply the guidance without extra cost or delay. “Teams are under a lot of pressure, and often the decision-maker is not in the room. The designer is going to have to advocate to others to make them care about this stuff and why it should happen.”

Much of this, she explains, came down to small, creative solutions rather than major new interventions. Examples included creating women-only hours in gyms already under development, or dedicating part of a café space as a safe place for young people to do their homework.

Verghese notes that conversations about safer spaces often focus narrowly on “better lighting, more CCTV, more sight lines”. Her experience with Publica was different, with an emphasis on listening to those most affected.

A failure to listen is one of the city’s biggest challenges, Verghese believes. “I think that’s something we don’t do enough of in the city: just listening to people.

“Lived experience has value, whether it’s that of women, people with disabilities, people from different ethnic backgrounds. They use the city in fundamentally different ways. And, if we listened to them and designed with them, we would make better cities that would be more inclusive for all.”

We need to provide people with opportunities where they can see how their voices can make a real difference

She adds that the Safety in Public Space guidance could be applied widely and points to other resources produced under the Good Growth by Design programme. “There are lots of other great guidance documents on the GGbD website too,” she says, covering subjects such as the expanded public realm, the child-friendly city and how to do proper community engagement and co-design.

These are “beautifully designed, really accessibly written” and, she stresses, available to all. “You don’t have to be a built-environment professional to use them. Any architect, developer, or community can download any of this guidance for free from the GLA’s website and apply it to their own project.”

Back in her day job, Verghese is proud of the way that Open House has been embraced by Londoners. The event depends on individuals and organisations opening their doors to visitors, and on hundreds of volunteer stewards, many of whom return year after year.

“It feels like such a collective endeavour at a city scale,” she says. “There’s a sense of shared ownership from London itself, which is really nice. It’s baked into who we are as an organisation.”

Looking ahead, she wants the next chapter for Open City to reflect a shift from passive observation to active participation. “We need to provide people with opportunities where they can see how their voices can make a real difference,” she explains.

That might be through contributing to Open City’s education work, or through using the festival as a platform for testing ideas and facilitating exchanges between different groups.

She draws inspiration from Jane Jacobs, quoting her line that “cities have the capability to provide something for everybody, only because – and only when – they are created by everybody.”

For Verghese, the word “everybody” is central, but it also requires more precision. “At Open City we are opening up the city for ‘everybody’. But ‘everybody’ is such a broad brushstroke. So it’s important we drill down to find the people who haven’t been able to be part of that conversation before, and create ways to make their voices heard, and get them involved.”

And what treats are in store in this year’s Open House festival? Verghese smiles, “Well, just to whet the appetite, I can tell you we’ve got Rana Begum’s Little Citadel; the Museum of Transology; the Walter Segal’s self-build houses in Lewisham; and an exciting selection of venues in and around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, including Sadler’s Wells East, The Loop (a circular economy hub in Hackney Wick), and a park-wide tour with Allies and Morrison…”

This year’s Open House festival runs from 13 to 21 September.