Support Us
Our Volunteers
Volunteers are involved in the various programme items during the Open House weekend. There are various tasks for volunteers: They are either responsible for opening doors and being the first point of contact on site, or they take care of knowledge transfer and give guided tours themselves.
This is what you can look forward to as a volunteer:
.. you are part of the Open House Community and your commitment makes it possible for Open House Bern to take place at all.
.. you are part of a community that is interested in architecture and get to know like-minded people and/or people who are well-connected in the professional world.
.. you will receive an official ‘Open House Bern’ shirt and tote bag. Because we care about the environment, you can also borrow a shirt and give it back after the event so we can wash and reuse it the following year.
.. Together with the other volunteers, we will invite you to the Volunteer Night as a thank-you.
As a rule, an assignment lasts usually more than three hours but less than five hours and takes place on either saturday or sunday. This gives you enough time to visit other buildings. You can choose which day suits you better and which location you would like to volunteer.
Some volunteers also take on several assignments at the weekend or work in the run-up to the festival. They support us with organisational tasks, with the preparation of materials or with publicising the festival.
People from all backgrounds and age groups are welcome in our volunteer community. You do not need to have any specific expertise in architecture.
As a volunteer for Open House Bern, you will be in direct contact with our visitors, so a friendly and reliable manner is important. You should also be motivated to take part in the 45-minute volunteer training course (online) and pick up the materials for your assignment (T-shirt, posters, programme booklets) in person at the day of the event.
As a volunteer, you will be on site for 3-5 hours at one venue.
If you are responsible for looking after the building, your main task will be to welcome visitors and provide information about the event and the site visits. You will ensure that everyone adheres to the rules that apply on site and support the experts in organising the visitor groups.
As a volunteer, you will be on site for 3-5 hours at one venue.
Do you enjoy speaking in front of an audience? Then perhaps guided tours are just the thing for you! If you take on a guided tour, you will welcome the colourful groups of visitors, answer individual questions and ensure that the visitors are just as enthusiastic about the respective architecture after the tour as you are (#no pressure). You will receive the material for preparing the guided tours from us in advance - if you have the time and inclination, you can compile further documents in addition to our materials.
Become "Gebäudepartner"
Without the trust of our "Gebäudepartner" – which include open-minded owners, users and architects – we would not be able to offer any programme items.
Our Gebäudepartner ..
.. provide access to buildings from different periods that are worth seeing and sometimes offer free guided tours.
.. Determine at what time how many people can visit the building and whether volunteers are needed on site.
.. Communicate any special needs (reduced accessibility, safety instructions, etc.). The Open House Bern team takes care of all other organisational matters and ensures that everything runs smoothly on the day of the event.
Would you also like to open the doors to your home in 2025? Become part of the Open House Bern community and submit a building proposal. For organisational reasons, we can consider proposals until 1 March 2025 at the latest.
If your building is part of our programme, we will invite you and your companions to the exclusive opening aperitif the night before the event.
