Anísio Franco and Mariana Sanchez Salvador

With the title “On Buidings and Food,” Open House Lisboa returns on the weekend of 9–10 May. In its 15th edition, the city’s largest celebration of architecture will showcase spaces and infrastructures that shape Lisbon’s food landscape. Anísio Franco, historian and deputy director of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, and architect Mariana Sanchez Salvador curate this edition.

The title references the Talking Heads album “More Songs About Buildings and Food” (1978), and through it the curatorial duo invites the public to unveil the hidden geographies of food. To this end, Open House Lisboa will open kitchens, infrastructures, back-of-house spaces, and sites of production, trade, and waste management. This year’s programme highlights the spatial, social, and material dimensions that nourish everyday urban life, proposing food as a critical lens through which to read the city — its architectures, rhythms, labour, and interdependencies.

In this edition, more than 60 spaces will invite the public to explore the circuits of food and the various buildings it inhabits, from preparation to the moment it reaches the table. From Bairro Padre Cruz Market to the Pastéis de Belém Factory, from the University City Canteen to the industrial chimneys of the Palácio da Independência, and through venues that are landmarks in Lisbon’s gastronomic landscape, such as the Galeto restaurant, food takes centre stage in this edition, which will also feature new spaces in its circuit.

Alongside the visits programme, and following previous editions, Open House Lisboa will also present a range of parallel initiatives, including Sound Walks, Urban Routes, Accessible Visits, and the Plus and Junior Programmes.

Anísio Franco is deputy director of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. Holding a degree in Art History, he has conducted extensive research in the field of art history in Portugal and curated numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. He has taught postgraduate courses at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Autonomous University of Lisbon, the Maria Ulrich Higher School for Educators, and the former Instituto Superior de Novas Profissões (Lusófona Polytechnic Institute).

In parallel, he has led countless cultural tours around the world. His multifaceted career also includes participation in television programmes on Portuguese art history, as well as appearances in films, documentaries, and series. Among his published works are “Histórias de Antiguidades” (Stories of Antiques), a collection of chronicles reflecting his perspective on viewing the world and art; the guidebook “Caminhar por Lisboa” (Walking Through Lisbon); and “Lisboa Desconhecida & Insólita” (Unknown & Unusual Lisbon), revealing his enduring interest in the history of Lisbon.

Mariana Sanchez Salvador is an architect whose work explores how the spaces we inhabit — from the city to the home — are transformed by food, shaping food landscapes. She received the Arquiteto Quelhas dos Santos Prize for the best Master’s Dissertation in Architecture (FA-UL), later published as “Architecture and Commensality: A History of the Home Through Culinary Practices” (Caleidoscópio, 2016). Her PhD in Urban Studies (NOVA FCSH and Iscte-IUL) focused on the historical evolution of Lisbon’s Food Landscape.

Her work extends to university teaching, publications, participation in public events, architecture, photography and food design exhibitions, artistic residencies, and collaborations with architecture and design biennials, both nationally and internationally.