In the architectural treatise par excellence, The Ten Books on Architecture, the Roman architect and theorist Marcus Vitruvius proposed that architecture must fulfill three values, "firmitas, utilitas, venustas", that is, buildings must be solid enough, functional, and beautiful. But 2,000 years later, these values are insufficient to face the challenges of today's world, the ravages of the anthropocene. "Now perhaps we need other words, other ways of thinking: perhaps it is not about firmness but about instability: the ability to work with changing soils, rising seas, transforming climates, and uncertain futures," said architect Eva Franch on Monday at the first plenary session of the World Congress of Architects 2026, held in Barcelona.