FILARCH 2026 is an international conference organized this year by the Architectural Association Design Research Lab and the Department of Architecture, University of Patras and hosted at the Architectural Association in London, on 19–21 November 2026.
Originally articulated as a philosophical practice by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction profoundly influenced architectural theory by interrogating inherited meanings, hidden assumptions and normative values embedded in architectural form. It challenged ideas of stability, permanence, hierarchy and function, exposing architecture as a cultural and ethical construct rather than a neutral or purely technical practice. By asking why architecture takes the forms it does and how it might be otherwise, deconstruction foregrounded indeterminacy, multiplicity of meaning and the experiential dimension of space, thereby reshaping architectural aesthetics, ethics and critical discourse. This philosophical shift helped pave the way for emerging design paradigms such as speculative design. Speculative design is an influential strand in contemporary architectural research, influencing how architects think about the discipline’s role in society, culture, technology and the environment. Speculative design operates as a form of architectural philosophy, exploring ethical dilemmas and cultural imaginaries through the question “What if?” Drawing inspiration from science fiction and thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida and Bruno Latour, it challenges instrumental rationality and invites reflection on alternative futures, values and modes of coexistence rather than offering immediate solutions. At the same time, it explores social, political, cultural, ecological and ethical implications of the built environment while challenging our assumptions about technology, the city and human behavior. Speculative design examines equity and justice, climate change, artificial intelligence, data environments and post-human conditions in order to promote critical reflection on urban policies, planning strategies, cross disciplinary collaborations and the common goal for a sustainable future.
The conference invites contributions that critically engage architecture as an ethical and aesthetic practice.
Indicative research topics include but are not limited to:
• Deconstruction and the ethics of architectural meaning
• Deconstructivist aesthetics and the question of the formless
• Architecture and post-capitalist value systems
• Architectural fictions and philosophical imaginaries
• Non-anthropocentric and post-human design ethics
• Fungal, microbial and animal co-design
• Imagining alternative ethical futures
• Ethics and aesthetics of biomaterials
• Radical housing and post-work societies
• Urban planning under authoritarian or anarchist regimes
• Architecture, politics and war
• Resilience, flexibility and becoming in design
• Designing with uncertainty
• Architecture as care: healing, repair and responsibility
Please send an abstract of 300 words to Prof. Constantinos V. Proimos (cvproimos@upatras.gr) and Prof. Vasilis Stroumpakos (vstroumpakos@upatras.gr) along with a brief curriculum vitae up to 200 words by 30th of May 2026.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 15th of July 2026.
The conference is a free event. A volume of selected papers will be published. Invited speakers (not yet confirmed) include Mario Carpo, Fiona Raby, Patricia Reed and Benjamin Bratton.