By revealing buildings usually closed to the public, Open House has a simple, democratic message: London's best buildings and places should be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of wealth or status. An open city, where citizens are free to roam where they like, is the ultimate goal. It's worth remembering that the freedoms we enjoy today, like strolling through Hyde Park – once off-limits to the masses – had to be fought for.
The most striking change in London's architecture over the past two decades has been the refashioning of the city as a vast urban playground. The funfair aesthetic is utterly dominant. The Dome and the London Eye, for example, scream "circus". In retrospect, the sheer effrontery of placing a funfair item opposite the Houses of Parliament looks like a declaration: game on! You might argue, too, that the rash of tall buildings, iconic in their simplicity – a cheese grater, a walkie-talkie, a shard of glass, and even a "Philishave" in Elephant and Castle – seem more like visions from a video game or a sci-fi movie.
(Image credit: Nigel Young)
The cable car linking North Greenwich to the Royal Docks is part of this approach to city making, too. Even the hosting of the Olympic Games was presented as an opportunity to rebuild a swathe of London's east end. The Orbit tower is the most extreme example of this process of urban gamification. Due to low visitor numbers, it has been rebooted with the addition of a 12-loop slide that takes 40 seconds to whizz through, top to bottom. The Garden Bridge project is another illustration of this "playground" approach. It's all a distraction, really, from the real challenge of planning: housing, schools, infrastructure and workplace buildings for our increasingly congested city.
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Today's trendy architect will tell you that what matters most is not architecture, but "the spaces in between buildings". It's true – buildings are always enhanced by the quality of the public realm around them. London's younger architects are strongly influenced by developments in Denmark, Holland and Germany, where there is a greater respect for the civic realm, so we're seeing a European influence filtering through. In truth, London's public spaces have being improving incrementally since the turn of the millennium. At Open House this year, you can visit a wide range of developments, from Derbyshire Street Pocket Park in Tower Hamlets, which has revived a dead-end street, to a guided tour of Barking's new town centre (complete with its own fake ruins) and an expert-led visit to the Olympic Park and its wonderful 'wild garden' landscapes.
The event is just one initiative by Open-City, a charity that champions great design in London's buildings and places. We run a number of programmes to support our vision, such as education programmes and design workshops for primary and secondary school children centred on building better cities. We also work with communities to give them a voice in regeneration projects directly affecting them, and we advise housing associations and developers on how to involve the public in the design process.
We want Londoners to have a stake in the design, development and care of the buildings and places they live in. It's the only realistic way we have of ensuring we create the kind of cities we can enjoy. By highlighting buildings from the past and present that we think are well designed, we hope to encourage a deeper understanding of architectural excellence and how it can be used to enhance the quality of our lives.
RORY OLCAYTO is the chief executive of Open-City, and was previously the editor of the Architects' Journal. Open House London takes place on 17 and 18 September in locations across the capital; openhouselondon.org.uk
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