The UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona confirms its first international speakers and launches registration. The event will bring together professionals and students in a diverse programme of conferences, debates and activities across different venues throughout the city.
UIA2026BCN presents an initial group of speakers who will form part of its official programme. The list brings together more than 200 international figures from the fields of architecture, urbanism, landscape design and research, reflecting the diversity that characterises the event.
With this announcement, the Congress begins the countdown to an event that will bring together more than 10,000 professionals and students from around the world. The organisers emphasise that this initial group of participants offers a broad and critical overview of the discipline, with voices approaching architecture from the perspectives of professional practice, academic research and social commitment.
Confirmed names include Alexander Brodsky, Andrés Jaque, Anne Holtrop, Atelier Bow-Wow, Bas Smets, Baukunst, Bêka & Lemoine, Brandlhuber+, Bruther, Colectivo C733, Forensic Architecture, H Arquitectes, Jan de Vylder and Inge Vinck, Marina Tabassum, OFFICE KGDVS, Paulo Tavares, Roger Boltshauser, Tatiana Bilbao, TEN Studio, Timothy Morton, Turenscape, Xu Tiantian, and Yasmeen Lari.
The programme will also feature leading figures in landscape architecture and ecology, such as BC architects & studies & materials, Catherine Mosbach, Dirk Sijmons, Rotor, Taller Capital and Transolar, as well as collectives focused on social and political issues, such as Assemble Studio, House Europe!, La Col, Lara Almarcegui, Samia Henni, and Teddy Cruz & Fonna Forman, and influential voices in theory and research such as Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Jack Self, Lydia Kallipoliti, Mario Carpo, Philippe Rahm, Rahul Mehrotra, and The Architecture Lobby.
The Congress introduces the figure of the Critical Antagonist, conceived to stimulate debate through critical interventions in the plenary sessions. Enrique Walker, Giovanna Borasi, Juan Herreros, Marina Otero, Philip Ursprung and Sana Frini are the first confirmed in this role.
Registration is now open, granting access to the programme of presentations, round tables, workshops and exhibitions that will take place in iconic venues across the city, such as the Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB), the Disseny Hub Barcelona and the Three Chimneys in Sant Adrià del Besòs.
Alexander Brodsky, Andrés Jaque, Anne Holtrop, Atelier Bow-Wow, Bas Smets, Baukunst, Bêka & Lemoine, Brandlhuber+, Bruther, Colectivo C733, Forensic Architecture, H Arquitectes, Jan de Vylder and Inge Vinck, Marina Tabassum, OFFICE KGDVS, Paulo Tavares, Roger Boltshauser, Tatiana Bilbao, TEN Studio, Timothy Morton, Turenscape, Xu Tiantian, and Yasmeen Lari and more