"Our mission is to assert that architecture is the most important culture surrounding us"

"People in the city find it difficult to get into hotel bars, which is why these buildings are highly sought after during OpenHouse."

We met with Elisenda Bonet, Director of the 48hOpenHouseBCN Architecture Festival, at the GranVía, the hotel that is making its debut in the Festival this year on the upcoming 21st and 22nd of October, and where, coincidentally, she celebrated her first communion. "It's nothing like it is now! The Gran Vía has always been an interesting space because of all the history of Dorotea Chopitea behind it. But it's important that there are projects like this one, that want to preserve history and improve the space. This renovation makes it clear that there is an interest in quality design and architecture, and I think it's very positive for the city that this hotel joins a cultural project like Open House. Hotels are spaces where city residents don't usually enter, they find it hard to meet in the lobbies for a drink, and that's why they are highly sought after during the OpenHouse."

- Elisenda, you are an architect by profession, how did you start the Open House?

From the beginning, I dedicated myself to communicating the world of architecture and created the first website for the Barcelona City Council's urban planning department. For a while, a group of friends and I had been discussing the possibility of bringing this architectural event to Barcelona, which will now be celebrating its 25th anniversary since it started in London. In 2009, these friends went to experience it firsthand and asked to join as Barcelona. Eventually, a non-profit association was formed to launch the Festival. We had the first website of all the festivals that existed at the time, 8 or 9 besides London. But since Barcelona's involvement, there has been exponential growth, and now there are 36 cities across the 5 continents.

- Are the benefits of the Open House more for the city or for the citizens?

Facing the city, the benefit is direct because it is Barcelona's main event with architecture, an open-door weekend in October to more than 200 buildings of all types, shapes, and sizes. Moreover, since the first year, we have worked towards the decentralization of architectural iconography by finding new benchmarks, and we are present in all districts. Already in 2013, we created the concept of the guest city, starting with Santa Coloma, breaking the boundaries from river to river that contain Barcelona. With Sant Joan Despí, etc., we decentralize even further.

But this is also important for personal self-esteem and for the collective self-esteem of a neighborhood. Just as a 4 or 5-star hotel values having an iconic building nearby, the moment you find that a building in your neighborhood that you had never noticed is part of the Festival, you rediscover it as something valuable. In this way, the promotion of the neighborhood is also improved, causing people to start considering these buildings as an integral part of some projects. Any idea that arises from these new dynamics is more important than all our work on dissemination and decentralization.

- Are there buildings that have posed, or still pose, a challenge for the Festival?

This year we have secured the Nou Barris Urban Guard Barracks which is part of the old Psychiatric Hospital and is now the district headquarters. Others that also excite us are the Planell Glassworks and the Firefighters Space which we had planned for last year and have finally been able to include in this edition.

- Since 2013, the Open Extra section has existed, which encompasses the association's activities for the rest of the year. What would you highlight?

A few months ago, we published a book resulting from our research laboratory in which we reflect on ways to narrate the city and architecture in a manner that is accessible to the public and aimed at non-professionals. This book is titled "345 Ways to Live in Barcelona", is published in 3 languages, and compiles the 345 buildings that have participated in the Festival during the first 6 years, creating an interesting visual guide of the city.

We also want to highlight the project Gran Open Extra, which is inclusive for the senior community. Four buildings from the Municipal Housing Board dedicated to the elderly are chosen, and for one month, architecture and theatrical expression workshops are held with the director and actor Oscar Molina so that they themselves can explain the buildings they live in during OpenHouse. In other words, it is doubly inclusive: it has an educational part and a cultural one so that the elderly enjoy their home more and because they are part of a festival that moves 60,000 people, adding value to the visitors. Truly, for the audience, it is very moving. I have gone every year to see one of these buildings and it gives you goosebumps when you see how our elders are integrated.

- Have you noticed the increase in tourists interested in cultural offerings over these years?

Our target audience is local, Barcelona and its surroundings. However, we are increasingly receiving inquiries from foreigners looking to organize trips and participate in our crowdfunding, which offers several advantages including quick access to buildings. This year, a group of 20 Swiss people are coming; last year there was a group of Australians who were visiting all the Open Houses around the world. Generally, they are architects or people with an appreciation for architecture. Of course, the Barcelona Tourist Office has the Festival on its agenda and we don't know for how many people it is an incentive when planning their trip.

- The festival audience is general, but is there a program for professionals?

We have two related sections: the Open Green, architecture from the perspective of sustainability. It addresses the architecture of the future, how these living machines that are buildings can be more efficient, less polluting, thanks to both the materials they are made of and their energy-saving systems, waste recycling, etc. And the Open Infrastructures, which was born from the need to claim metropolitan area infrastructures as constructed landscape. Everyone needs infrastructures, although we often do not want them near our homes. We want to assert their necessity and show how they are increasingly adapting to the small scale of the citizens. We have Sant Joan Despí, where the water deposits from the Ter and Llobregat rivers converge, supplying the entire metropolitan area and on top of which squash courts have been built for the nearby residents. We really like to explain this dual scale. Like that of the Fórum incinerator, for example.

- There's a lot of talk about Smart Cities nowadays: what role does architecture play in them?

From the Association, we drive the project Open Sky Museum which aims to provide information in the same building thanks to new technologies and smartphones. We have already tagged 30 buildings with QR codes and NFC chips that are in Nou Barris and Sant Andreu. However, we want to technologically improve it by adding beacons called [1] and extend it to the entire city, but we need to find funding. That would indeed decentralize and enhance the value of the city throughout the year, creating new cultural or business opportunities. For example, if there is a beacon on a building and you pass by with a Smartphone that detects its signal, your phone would start vibrating and inform you about the building, what is happening inside it, etc. They could be used for cultural projects or school projects taking advantage of these same beacons.

- From all that we have discussed, it follows that architecture is the unseen art in which we live, yet curiously it is not considered in school art curricula

As architecture is a functional art, it's hard to see it as both art and a cultural fact. There's the added issue that if you're not an architect or haven't educated yourself about architecture out of personal interest, you lack certain criteria to fully appreciate and enjoy the city and the buildings where you live or work. That's why we also open public buildings, which normally aren't easily accessible, so that citizens can see how their money is being spent. This year we're opening the Valle de Hebrón complex and several buildings will be explained, as well as the new goals for opening the campus to society, which has been renovated 4 months ago. We will open operating rooms, the VHIR (the building of its research institute), etc. We always say that our mission is to assert that architecture is culture and moreover, the most important culture that surrounds us.

“During the Open House, the Gran Via opens its doors and terrace with live performances”

[1] un pequeño dispositivo (tan pequeño como una moneda) que emite señales de onda corta por medio de la tecnología Bluetooth, y que puede llegar hasta 50 metros de alcance. Similar en funcionamiento a un GPS, el beacon cuenta con una señal única por cada dispositivo, que es capaz de definir una localización y detectar y localizar otros dispositivos, como, por ejemplo, un Smartphone que cuente con una aplicación rastreadora de señales de beacon.