Open House Basel
“Open House” is a simple but powerful concept to showcase outstanding architecture for all to experience, completely free of charge. The initiative invites everyone to explore and debate the value of a well-designed built environment. The concept has been established in more than 40 locations around the world, including Athens, Barcelona, Chicago, Dublin, Jerusalem, London, Melbourne, New York, and Rome. This year, Basel-Stadt and Baselland will be hosting their fourth edition of this celebration of architecture.
On this weekend, doors will be opened throughout the city to show visitors outstanding architecture from various time periods. From 10:00–18:00, there will be free guided tours of over 100 buildings and outdoor spaces at private homes and apartments, churches, libraries, museums, offices, schools, studios, theaters, workshops, and more; note that the different buildings may have individual opening hours. You can get a good impression of all open buildings under “Programm” on their website, which also lists the times of the various tours. You can view them as a list as well as on a map that you can print out. The printed plan, with the basic information on the program, can also be picked up a few weeks before the event at the Basel Tourism offices and the Kantonsbibliothek Baselland in Liestal, as well as downloaded from their website.
You can already register now and create your own log-in account that will provide you with up-to-date information and last-minute changes throughout the event. To create your itinerary, click on “PROGRAMM” then on “GALERIE” to see the 100 buildings. For each one you wish to visit, click on the “meine Auswahl” (my selection) yellow star. Be sure to give yourself enough time to get from one building to the next and to make a proper visit of each. To help in this planning, click on “KARTE” to see the location/proximity of the buildings on the map, and on “PROGRAMM” to see the opening hours, the times of tours without registration (Führungen ohne Anmeldung), tours with registration (Führungen mit Anmeldung), multilingual tours, and additional activities (Rahmenprogramm). So, log in and start planning your weekend by putting together your personal favorites, from the new Biozentrum building and Novartis Pavilion, to a movable house in Riehen and the Meret Oppenheim Hochhaus. Many new and unknown impressions are awaiting the visitors. No matter your background, everyone is invited!
Also check out their program for “Open House Kids,” which offers a wide range of opportunities for children and families to playfully explore buildings and outdoor spaces. The fun starts with the Open House Kids trading cards: They are available at all buildings marked with the Kids symbol in the program and contain various questions for an individual exploration tour. New this year, they can be used on all houses! In addition, there are activities to join in at individual locations. At every place where the children fill out a card or take part in an activity, they get a stamp on their stamp card after participating. In the raffle that follows, they can win a main prize for the whole family or other great prizes. https://openhouse-basel.org/info/kids/
Website
openhouse-basel.org