The Three Chimneys will be the main venue for the World Architecture Congress

BarcelonaBarcelona will be the first city to host the International Union of Architects (UIA) World Architecture Congress for the second time, from June 28 to July 2, 2026. It is also unprecedented that the issues to be addressed were proposed by a team of architects emerging from an international competition. They are Pau Bajet, Mariona Benedito, Maria Giramé, Tomeu Ramis, Pau Sarquella, Carmen Torres, and José Zabala, and this Monday they gave new details of how they will deploy their project, entitledBecoming. Architectures for planet in transition: Its main venues will be Las Tres Chimeneas de Sant Adrià de Besòs and the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub). Iconic venues in the city will also host public events, such as the Castell de Montjuïc, which will host the closing ceremony; the Muelle de la Marina; and the Sagrada Família, where the UIA awards will be presented. It has also been announced that the curators have commissioned 12 research projects, from teams including Atelier Bow-Wow, Colectivo C733, Anna Puigjaner of Vylder Vinck, and Forensic Architecture. Another of these projects is Water parliaments, the proposal by Eva Franch and the TAKK studio that will represent Catalonia at the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale.

The decision to locate the venues in Las Tres Chimeneas in Sant Adrià de Besòs and the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) is very well thought out: for the curators, this coastal strip is "highly complex" because it is home to "the essential infrastructures for the metropolis", and because this area must assume the role of the Mediterranean Sea, and thus, the curators want to highlight that the World Congress "participates in the geopolitical framework represented by the Mediterranean Sea, and wants to show Barcelona as a Mediterranean city in constant transformation, which crystallizes the idea of the very construction of the city over time".

"2026 represents a significant milestone for Barcelona, ​​as it will host the UIA Congress for a few days, but also because it has been designated by UNESCO as the World Capital of Architecture," says architect Maria Giramé. Regarding the use of time in architecture referred to in "Becoming," Giramé explains that it is about "always working from pre-existing elements, whether the physical landscapes, cultures, histories, or memories of a place, to carefully transform them, taking into account their richness."

A future of care and solidarity

With their proposal, the curators' goal is to transform Barcelona, ​​​​as they said when they won the competition, into "a laboratory for architectural research," so that the World Congress is not only relevant for architects, but also has a real impact on citizens and the future of the planet. "The gestures of becoming are careful, attentive, and supportive, and they carry with them material, political, ecological, and poetic interrelations that lead us to incredible open perspectives," say the curators.

The curators have deployed their proposal in six axes related to problems of today's world, among them the desire to rethink our habits as ecosystems where multiple species coexist in symbiosis (Becoming beyond human). Other (Becoming interdependent), has a political character and is based on the interconnection between people to foster "social empowerment transitions" through spaces that encourage cooperation, care, and solidarity. A third line will be driven by tools and actions, including data and AI, which must be promoted to achieve "hyperawareness of our territory and channel changes in our ways of living" (Becoming hyper-conscious)

A fourth line will deepen the circularity in the architecture (Becoming circular). "Each of them opens up fields of research close to other disciplines, always pivoting on the practice of architecture, with the aim of exploring alternative transitions to traditionally imposed models," says Giramé.

Two of the lines will have a more strictly sectoral character: Becoming embodied will address "the processes of material transformation of our built environment." This line explores the technologies and techniques of construction processes, incorporating the agency of materials—that is, integrating their environmental, social, and aesthetic values. Becoming attuned will address the "meaning of architecture" and "poetic transitions." "The goal is to refine the complex pre-existing realities to understand how to shape the meaning that architecture produces," says Giramé. "This approach requires a sensitive and open perspective, guided by desire, that values uncertainty and the everyday, both in physical and digital phenomena," he emphasizes.

Around 200 international speakers

Around 200 international speakers are expected to participate in the conferences, debates, and the conference presentation. Around 125 of these speakers will be chosen by the curatorship and scientific committee, and the remaining 75 will be selected through an open proposal. Two calls for student applications will soon be launched: an international competition and an international workshop, which will host around 150 students. Furthermore, the conference will be one of the highlights of the conference. Barcelona UNESCO World Capital of Status throughout 2026, as a result of the agreement between the UIA and UNESCO for Barcelona to obtain this recognition. On the other hand, in terms of attendance, around 10,000 people are expected to attend.

This edition of the World Congress of the International Union of Architects (UIA) is organized by the Higher Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE), together with the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC), and has the institutional support of the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat (Catalan Government), and the Ministry of Finance. Barcelona hosted the World Congress for the first time in 1996, in an edition remembered for the presence of many of today's star architects, such as Frank O. Gehry, Norman Foster, and Peter Eisenmann.