If taken literally, housing is the origin myth of architecture. If less so, we might say that it is in housing where the discipline has found one of its most persistent questions: the relationship between space and ways of life, between production and reproduction. Home is that interior where, paraphrasing Walter Benjamin, its walls record both the traces of subjectivity and the rise of capitalism in the modern city. It is also where a social order is rehearsed and perpetuated: the hierarchy between rooms and users, the division of domestic labor, and the distinction between what is visible and what remains out of sight. Historian Robin Evans warned that it would be foolish to believe that a floor plan forces people to relate in a certain way, but even more foolish to think that it cannot prevent —or at least hinder—certain relations from taking place.
[…] If functionalism aspired to universalize a domesticity without friction, today, on the contrary, housing is defined by social, economic, and environmental frictions that appear both necessary and inescapable: the nuclear family is no longer the only model; the financialization of housing has made it exponentially less accessible; ecological crisis and population aging are changing the ways of dwelling. For a generation that will hardly have access to housing under the conditions their parents once did, the domestic realm has become a laboratory where architecture should offer at the very least, a position—and ideally, alternatives: other formats for social life.
This issue of ARQ explores the domestic as a critical field. How do architecture and landscape architecture negotiate between intimacy and exposure, care and control, habit and change? What is the house today? How do architects and landscape architects rethink its limits, its programs, its economies? We seek works and readings that question the contemporary domestic plot—and what it might become.
About ARQ
ARQ, a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. Published three times a year by Ediciones ARQ of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), ARQ is indexed in several academic databases including WoS, DOAJ, Scopus, Avery Index, SciELO, and Latindex. Articles are published in English and Spanish.
Submission formats
We encourage contributions from emerging and established scholars, practitioners, and researchers. Submissions are accepted in various formats, including interviews, academic papers (approximately 6,000 words), critiques (1,500 words), and projects—built or unbuilt, including a special section for master thesis or diploma projects. Material should be previously unpublished, or at least not have been published in Spanish. For detailed submission guidelines, please visit: https://edicionesarq.com/Open-Call.
Calendar
Submission Deadline: January 9, 2026
Publication Date: April 2026