The 2026 UIA World Congress of Architects (UIA2026BCN) has launched the International Emerging Workshop, a specially designed program that invites students and young professionals to engage in experimental studios led by twelve emerging architecture firms. Scheduled for June 19–27, 2025—one week prior to the congress—the program serves as a prelude, offering dynamic workshops, public lectures, inspiring dialogues with mentors, and city tours. 180 participants from around the world will collaborate across twelve workshops, fostering cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchange. Each workshop will explore a specific research direction centered on the congress theme, "Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition." Outcomes will be showcased in a dedicated exhibition during the congress.
Barcelona as a Laboratory
Barcelona has long served as a vibrant testing ground where architecture, urban planning, and social life intersect to drive systemic change. Today, its capacity for reinvention faces urgent challenges: climate change and rising temperatures, over-tourism and gentrification, a shortage of affordable housing, and the depletion of material and ecological resources. These tensions mirror crises on a global scale. Rather than viewing the city as a fixed model, the program treats it as a laboratory for developing design strategies that address physical, social, and ecological challenges. This context informs the UIA2026BCN theme, "Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition," which advocates for spatial practices that utilize time as a design tool to catalyze ecological, material, poetic, and political transformations.
