Open House Zagreb aims to promote the city's most attractive architectural works and set a meeting of citizens with architects, builders, investors, and owners of the buildings. The festival encourages consideration of the city's value and the role of its inhabitants in its creation and encourages participants to advocate for a well-designed and planned architectural environment. By presenting urban landscapes of the Croatian capital, Open House Zagreb invites reflections on how architecture deals with environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The first Open House Zagreb presented more than thirty public and private buildings, including schools, churches, parks, ateliers, swimming pools, banks, and whole neighbourhoods.
Open House festivals around the world have been focused on presenting urban landscapes for more than three decades . The first Open House festival took place in 1992 in London, and the Open House Worldwide network today gathers 54 major world cities such as Copenhagen, New York, Paris and Amsterdam. Almost a million people attend Open House events in the world every year, and two million visits to the facilities are recorded, accompanied by around 18,000 volunteers, mostly students and citizens who make the Festival more visible with their contribution.
At the annual meeting of Open House Europe was held in Lisbon last year, Open House Zagreb was recognised as one of the most promising Open House festival in Europe.