Labóh at the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona

Barcelona hosted, for the second time in the history of the UIA World Congress of Architects and thirty years after 1996, the 2026 edition under the curatorial proposal Becoming: Architectures for a Planet in Transition. From 28 June to 2 July, more than 10,000 professionals, students and institutions attended five intense days of Congress Sessions, debates and international exchange. Labóh was responsible for designing, coordinating and executing the press, public relations and communications strategy, giving visibility to the Congress's content, speakers and activities before professional, institutional and general audiences, both nationally and internationally.

The Congress unfolded across some of the most emblematic venues in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, with the CCIB as the main venue for the Congress Sessions, the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià del Besòs as the setting for the opening and closing ceremonies, the Open Forum and the Central Exhibition, and the Disseny Hub Barcelona as a meeting point and link with the city among institutions, professional associations and international organisations. The Sagrada Familia was also part of the event, hosting the 2026 UIA Gold Medal and Triennial Prizes ceremony, with the Gold Medal awarded to Eduardo Souto de Moura.

The programme was structured around a series of formats, many of them unique to this edition:

SPEAKERS — The panel brought together voices from around the world in a balanced representation across territories, generations and gender. Speakers included figures recognised with the Pritzker Prize such as Lacaton & Vassal, Shigeru Ban and Smiljan Radić. They were joined by the latest winners of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, the studio Architecten Jan de Vylder Inge Vinck, along with winners from previous editions such as Lacol and Arquitectura G.

RESEARCH BY DESIGN — Twelve practices carried out original research addressing some of the most urgent challenges, such as access to housing and the climate crisis, with speakers including HouseEurope!, Brandlhuber+/b+, Anna Puigjaner, TAKK, Dirk Sijmons and Forensic Architecture, among others.

OPEN FORUM — Every afternoon, the esplanade at the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià del Besòs became a stage for open exchange and collective debate facing the sea. Through ephemeral, rented, waste-free structures, a set of platforms was set up including stands for 1,500 people, along with service and bar areas, where speakers and the public extended the day's conversations through active, horizontal dialogue.

ITINERARIES — More than 70 routes ran from 25 June to 5 July across Barcelona and its surrounding area, with visits to iconic works by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, contemporary landmarks by Enric Miralles or Ricardo Bofill, and interventions by H Arquitectes, Flores & Prats and Cierto Estudio, many of them opened to the public on an exceptional basis for the occasion.

INTERNATIONAL EMERGING WORKSHOP — In the week before the Congress, from 19 to 27 June, around 180 students and young architects from around the world took part in the workshop, led by leading studios and collectives such as the UK's Assemble, Spain's BeAr, the architecture association TEN and the French-Chilean studio Plan Común, which concluded with a series of public conferences on 24, 25 and 26 June.

CENTRAL EXHIBITION — Spanning more than 4,000 m² in the Turbine Hall at the Three Chimneys of Sant Adrià del Besòs, the Central Exhibition opened free to the public as part of Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, offering an exceptional look inside this landmark space ahead of its transformation into Catalunya Media City. Through models, prototypes, audiovisual pieces and full-scale installations, it brought together the twelve Research by Design installations, the results of the International Emerging Workshop, more than 200 contributions from the Congress's Speakers, and a selection from the UNESCO-UIA Competitions. Over its 11 days, the exhibition welcomed more than 20,000 visitors.

Throughout the entire process, Labóh's multidisciplinary, international team designed, coordinated and executed the integral communications strategy in Spanish, Catalan, English and French, through sustained coverage in press, social media, newsletters and web news. This work translated into figures that exceeded all expectations: more than 1,500 media impacts internationally and a digital community built from scratch that reached more than 22,500 followers, tripling that of the Copenhagen 2023 edition.

We hold on to the words of Regina Gonthier, President of the UIA International Union of Architects: "You've done it again," referring to the historic 1996 Barcelona Congress. A phrase that captures the demands, the emotion and the pride of having contributed to this exceptional event.