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Open House CDMX Turns Día de Muertos Into an Architectural Experience
From October 30 to November 3, Open House CDMX returns with a more intimate edition dedicated to Día de Muertos, bringing contemporary architecture, design and ritual together across five spaces in Mexico City.
September 2nd, 2026
By: mesh. magazine
Mexico City has always known how to make memory visible. Every autumn, marigolds appear along sidewalks and altars take over homes, museums, restaurants and public spaces. This year, Open House CDMX places that visual language inside another kind of setting: contemporary architecture.
Photo: Open House CDMX
For its 2026 Día de Muertos edition, Open House CDMX will open five selected spaces across the city, inviting architects, designers and creative studios to reinterpret the tradition through contemporary offerings. The participating creators include Miguel de la Torre, Lucio Muniain, Fermín Espinosa, Axel Arañó, Bandido, Raúl de la Cerda, Adán Carabes, Andrés Gutiérrez and Taller Nacional.
Photo: Open House CDMX
The format is deliberately intimate. Each offering has been conceived in relation to the architecture that houses it, allowing materials, scale, light and spatial composition to become part of the interpretation. Rather than treating the altar as an isolated object, the project places it inside the rhythms and structures of the city.
Photo: Open House CDMX
The five participating spaces are located across Ampliación Daniel Garza, Polanco, Condesa, Roma Norte and Colonia Juárez, creating a scattered map of contemporary Mexico City. The official Open House CDMX platform confirms five venues for the experience and access to all participating spaces with the event ticket.
The lineup brings together different approaches to architecture and design. Miguel de la Torre, Lucio Muniain, Fermín Espinosa, Axel Arañó, Bandido, Raúl de la Cerda, Adán Carabes, Andrés Gutiérrez and Taller Nacional will each approach Día de Muertos through their own visual and material vocabulary, making the city itself part of the conversation.
Photo: Open House CDMX
Alongside the installations, the program will include special activations, architectural tours and workshops, extending the experience beyond the traditional altar and into the rituals, stories and forms of gathering associated with Día de Muertos.
Open House CDMX is part of the international Open House Worldwide network, a global initiative dedicated to making architecture more accessible through the opening of buildings and spaces that invite the public to experience the cities they inhabit from within. In Mexico City, the project has developed its own relationship with the capital's architecture, design scene and everyday spaces. The organization describes itself as a local initiative created from a desire to discover and celebrate the city's architectural heritage.
Photo: Open House CDMX
For Día de Muertos 2026, that invitation takes on a distinctly spatial character. The journey moves through different neighborhoods and interiors, with each offering providing its own reading of memory, ritual and place.
Open House CDMX Día de Muertos 2026
Dates: October 30–November 3, 2026
Areas: Ampliación Daniel Garza, Polanco, Condesa, Roma Norte and Colonia Juárez
General admission: $190 MXN
Tickets: Available through https://mangopase.com/event/ohdiademuertos26
For architecture, design and anyone interested in seeing Mexico City through a different lens, this year's Open House CDMX offers a particularly timely route through the city: one shaped by space, material, memory and the rituals that return every November.