Open House Dublin 2026

Your Dublin

Open House Dublin Online Journal

Open House Dublin is inviting young people connected with Fighting Words and the Word Warriors programme to contribute to this year’s festival through our online journal on openhousedublin.com

What is Open House Dublin?

Every year, Open House Dublin runs a festival of architecture that opens up the city, inviting people to explore buildings, streets and spaces that shape our lives. It’s a chance to see places you might normally pass by, meet the people who make them, and think about how Dublin is designed and how it could be different.

Architecture isn’t just about famous buildings or what things look like. The built environment is everything around us that people have designed, built or changed - our homes, schools, streets, parks, libraries, shops and public spaces. It affects how we move around, where we meet, how we feel in a place and whether we feel like we belong. In other words, architecture matters to everyone.

How to get involved?

This year, Open House Dublin is thinking about Dublin as a living city, not just its buildings, streets and parks, but the people, relationships and communities that give those places meaning. A neighbourhood is more than bricks and concrete. It’s the people who live there, the places where things happen, the memories that build up over time, and the ways we look after the places we share.

We want to hear what YOUR Dublin looks, sounds and feels like. Tell us about a place that matters to you, something that makes your neighbourhood what it is, or something you think could be different. What do you think makes a good building or a useful and beautiful public space? You might write about where people meet, where you feel at home, a place that needs more care, a change happening in your area, or a place or a building you would like to reimagine. You could tell a story, share a memory, describe a moment, or imagine what your neighbourhood could become.

What gives a place its life? What makes you feel that you belong? And what would you like Dublin to be like in the future?

What to send

Please submit your contribution via this form. At least three pictures should accompany each piece and they should be emailed as attachments to fiction@fightingwords.ie, with your name and the title of your piece as the subject line.

Your writing should be between 300 and 650 words.
 

Please make sure any writing or images you submit your own work or that you have permission to use them. Include a short caption or description where useful.

No images of children under 18 should be included.

Your work may be lightly edited for publication. By submitting, you give Open House Dublin permission to publish your contribution on its website and share it through festival channels - but we will follow up all submissions and ask for explicit parent/guardian consent.