Open House to promote city’s architecture, urban culture

Open House Macau (OHM) is slated to make its debut in the city on November 10 and 11, with a mission of promoting architecture and urban culture in the city.

Initiated by a non-profit organization, Curb – Center for Architecture and Urbanism, the two-day event will allow the general public to visit 50 buildings that are not ordinarily accessible by the public.

OHM is a member of the renowned Open House Worldwide, which includes over 40 cities in four continents.

According to the curator, Nuno Soares, the main idea of the event, being the first in Asia, is to democratize architecture.

“Architecture is for everyone […] so we want the entire community to be able to celebrate the architectural history of Macau, visit these buildings and to be able to start to engage with like-minded people who are also interested in our architectural heritage,” Soares, who is an architect and urban planner, told the Times.

“We don’t want to turn these buildings into museums. They should be part of the living city and be used [as part of] daily life,” he added.

The event will accommodate three kinds of visits: free visits, guided visits and commented visits, which involve experts or private building owners who will speak about the designated building.

With a slogan of “architecture beyond walls,” one of the purposes of the initiative is also to speak about the architectural features of the buildings and the motivations behind the establishment of the buildings.

“We want to create a platform for the building owners [and] users to share their experiences and their interests with the visitors,” Soares explained.

Macau has many layers of architectural culture; thus Soares deemed that it is significant for the region to understand the “untold architectural history,” noting that there is a lack of architecture books on the city.

The 50 buildings were classified under five periods including Chinese vernacular, neo-classical, modernist, contemporary and art deco.

“So this isn’t focusing on Chinese and Portuguese architecture, but focusing on the culture of Macau, which is very rich, very complex and multi-layered,” the architect explained.

“This will give the visitors the key to start to understand a bit of the reality around them. Many don’t have this classification, but in Macau we find that it is important because […] we don’t have that many books on architecture Macau and it is not extensively researched,” Soares added.

However, the scholar defended that it is normal in some countries and cities not to have extensive research on particular topics and that many books contain knowledge that is built on a series of events.

“We will create one more brick in this wall of knowledge. Instead of complaining that we don’t have information, we want to build up that information; expand what exists and initiate what doesn’t exist. It’s our contribution to this architectural history of Macau,” said Soares.

He hinted that amongst the 50 buildings would be the Leal Seando building, which will open its library and Nobel Room over the weekend.

OHM is intended to be an annual event and it is eyeing an extension into Taipa and then to Coloane in its next installment.

Pre-registration is required, and organizers said that they are set to release the list of the buildings soon.

Over 100 volunteer applications have been received for the event. Volunteers will engage with visitors to enable them to uncover the architectural history of Macau.

Bringing the idea to the SAR took some two years, as a one- year pre-qualification with the organizers in London was needed, along with needing permission to host the event in Macau.

Victoria Thornton, president and founder of Open House Worldwide, will be in attendance at the debut in Macau.