28 June – 2 July 2026
UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona
https://uia2026bcn.org/
Eva Franch i Gilabert, Head of Studio Architecture II / Future Architectures Platform at UMPRUM, will take part in the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 in Barcelona, one of the most important international gatherings for architecture and urban thinking. The Congress, titled “Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition,” will take place from 28 June to 2 July 2026, bringing together architects, researchers, educators, curators, and practitioners from around the world.
Franch’s participation forms part of the Congress’s „Becoming More-than-human“ thematic line, which addresses how architecture can engage with ecological interdependence, sedimentation, water systems, multispecies life, climate transformation, and new forms of territorial care.
As part of the official programme, Eva Franch i Gilabert will participate in the Research by Design programme together with TAKK — Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño. Their project “MONUSEDIMENT, Manifesto for Sedimentary Futures” that is part of the “Water Parliaments: Projective Ecosocial Architectures,” was selected as one of the 12 Research by Design projects developed for the Congress. The project explores the water crisis as both an ecological and cultural challenge, proposing new forms of ecosocial governance through architecture. It will be presented within the central exhibition “Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition” at the Three Chimneys / Sant Adrià de Besòs power plant, through models, prototypes, videos, full-scale installations, talks, and the official catalogue.
Franch will also speak in the plenary session “Becoming More-than-human” on Monday, 29 June 2026, from 09:00 to 10:30, at the CCIB, Stage 1. The session brings together research-by-design, experimental practices, and critical reflection on architecture’s role within dynamic coastal and urban ecologies. Speakers include Mark Wigley, Bas Smets, Dirk Sijmons + KK+N+S, Eva Franch + TAKK, Design Earth, and Simulaa.
On the same day, Franch will also participate with FAST, the transdisciplinary curatorial platform and design lab she co-founded with José Luis de Vicente, in the selected contributions session “Ecologies of Food Production”, taking place on Monday, 29 June 2026, from 12:15 to 13:30, at the CCIB, Stage 8. FAST will present “The Storm: Architectures of Vernacular Geoengineering,” a project examining food, climate, atmosphere, and vernacular technologies through the lens of architectural and environmental research.
To end, Franch will aslo participate in the plenary session on Monday, 29 June 2026, from 6pm to 9pm on the main stage in the Three Chimneys Open Forum.
Eva Franch i Gilabert is an architect, curator, researcher, educator, and co-founder of FAST. She is Head of Studio Architecture II / Future Architectures Platform at UMPRUM in Prague and also teaches at Columbia GSAPP. Her work connects architecture, curatorial practice, civic technologies, environmental imaginaries, and planetary pedagogies. She has previously directed the Architectural Association in London and Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, and has curated major international projects including OfficeUS, the United States Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, and „Water Parliaments“, Catalonia’s participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.
Through her participation in UIA 2026 Barcelona, Franch continues to connect the pedagogical and research ambitions of UMPRUM with urgent international debates on architecture, ecology, water, territory, and more-than-human futures.
