Organized by the Croatian Chamber of Architects, Architects’ Days 10.0 takes place place from 19 to 21 March 2026 at the Maestral and Soline Hotels in Brela, bringing together architects, public authorities, and stakeholders from Croatia and Europe to discuss the future of the built environment.

Today’s session focused on addressing the growing challenge of housing accessibility, exploring spatial planning tools, innovative approaches, and European best practices. The Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) contributed to the discussion on housing, with its President, Daniel Fügenschuh.

In his speech, ACE President addressed distinguished representatives of national and regional institutions, as well as the Croatian Chamber of Architects and professional colleagues. He emphasised the urgency of the housing crisis across Europe—marked by a lack of affordable homes, declining quality, and increasing disparities between needs and supply.

“This is not abstract,” he noted. “It is visible here in Croatia and across Europe—young people cannot find homes, families are struggling, and yet many buildings remain vacant.”

Reaffirming housing as a public good

The President recalled the ACE position on Affordable and Quality Housing for all, stressing that housing must be treated as a public good. He highlighted four key principles guiding ACE’s work:

• Housing is a right
• Renovation must come before demolition
• Quality must remain central—even in affordable housing
• Innovation is essential to build better and faster

These priorities, he underlined, are essential to ensuring that sustainability, affordability and quality go hand in hand.

Strengthening quality through competitions and collaboration

Welcoming recent developments in Croatia, the President pointed to new architectural competition guidelines as an important step forward in ensuring transparency and quality in project delivery. He linked these efforts to broader European initiatives such as the ARCH-E project, which promotes Architectural Design Competitions as a fair and effective tool to achieve high-quality outcomes.

He also emphasised that collaboration across disciplines and stakeholders is key to addressing housing challenges, from design to implementation.

Architect Damir Mance, ACE President Daniel Fügenschuh and Dubravko Bačić, former Executive Board member.

Heritage, resilience and policy progress

Referring to Croatia’s ongoing post-earthquake reconstruction, the President highlighted the importance of continuity, care and long-term thinking in architecture. He also addressed current debates on heritage, stressing the need to prioritise reuse and adaptation over demolition—both to preserve cultural value and to reduce environmental impact.

In addition, he acknowledged the significant progress made towards a new national architectural policy in Croatia, commending the sustained efforts behind its development and reaffirming ACE’s full support for this important milestone.

An opportunity for change

Concluding his speech, the ACE President encouraged participants to see the housing crisis not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity—to improve living conditions, strengthen communities, and demonstrate the value of architecture in society.

Images courtesy of the Croatian Chamber of Architects and DF.