Becoming – UIA World Congress of Architects 2026, Spain

28 Jun — 2 May 2026

UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona

In June 2026, Barcelona will host one of the largest global gatherings dedicated to architecture. Over three days, more than 10,000 participants and 250 speakers from around the world will come together across eight stages, with over 100 sessions, a 4,000-square-metre central exhibition and seventy architectural itineraries unfolding across the region. Set along the Mediterranean seafront — from the iconic Three Chimneys turbine hall to major civic venues — the Congress expands beyond a conventional conference format to experience the city. Plenary talks, lectures and debates, open forums, workshops, research presentations and public celebrations will activate the city as a concentrated space of exchange. From 28 June to 2 July, Barcelona becomes a worldwide meeting point for architects, researchers, students and institutions. This is more than a congress. Be part of it.

Structured around six thematic lines — Becoming More-than-human, Becoming Circular, Becoming Embodied, Becoming Interdependent, Becoming Hyper-conscious, and Becoming Attuned — the Congress dedicates one half-day to each, framing discussions through carefully curated subtopics that connect disciplines, scales, and geographies.

Across the three days, the programme combines collective moments and focused conversations, creating a rhythm between keynote contributions, critical responses, and open debate. Each session is introduced and moderated by dedicated hosts, ensuring that contributions are interrelated and situated within a broader conceptual framework. In the evening, an open gathering at the Three Chimneys extends the dialogue in a shared and informal atmosphere, reinforcing the Congress as a space of active exchange rather than a sequence of isolated talks.

Becoming explores spatial practices that foster the appropriation and transformation of our inhabited environments —both human and more-than-human, individual and collective— by investigating the potential of time as a design tool. Rejecting the notion of tabula rasa, it is rooted in a deep awareness of pre-existing physical and cultural landscapes, curating transitions through material, political, ecological, and poetic interrelations. In an effort to move beyond the depletion of capitalist-driven paradigms, Becoming poses challenges that suggest alternative prospects: six thematic research lines frame these explorations, inviting open-ended, intersecting investigations into what it means to design for a world in transition.

Books

Becoming

£25.00