Form Follows Transformation: Moments that redefine Europe’s existing buildings
Monday 29 June, 14.00 – 15.30 CET
DHUB Auditorium, 4th floor, Barcelona
Europe’s built environment is at a crossroads: the intersecting crises of housing and climate change demand a paradigm shift. With 85–95% of today’s buildings still standing in 2050, the urgency to renovate, adapt, and reuse the existing has never been clearer.
This seminar aims to explore how architecture can lead this transformation, not as a technical upgrade, but as a holistic, human-centric, and creative act. Through a curated selection of projects from the Form Follows Transformation exhibition, presented by the Architects’ Council of Europe during the Congress, we will showcase how smart renovation and transformation can drive sustainability, resilience, and social cohesion.
The projects featured in this exhibition prove that smart renovation and transformation can be a catalyst for sustainability, resilience, and social cohesion. From circular economy principles to climate-adaptive design, these projects redefine architecture’s role: not just as creators of new forms, but as curators of existing resources.
Guided by the Davos Baukultur criteria—and framed by the New European Bauhaus and the revised EPBD—we will discuss how policy, culture, and design can converge to scale solutions that are sustainable, inclusive, and aesthetically compelling. We will in particular discuss the regulatory barriers and enablers to the adaptive re-use and transformation of the built environment.
Join us to explore how renovation can be a strategic opportunity—for our buildings, our communities, and our planet.
Registration are open on eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/form-follows-transformation-tickets-1989826866723
Programme
14:00 – Welcome and Introduction
Daniel FÜGENSCHUH
President, Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE)
Maria BUHIGAS
Chief City Architect, Barcelona City Council
14:15 – Forms Follow Transformation: Presentations of Three Projects Featured in the ACE Exhibition
Laurens BEKEMANS
BC Architects & Studies
Presentation of the Usquare Feder Project
Jakob Rabe PETERSEN
Pihlmann Architects
Presentation of the Thoravej 29 Project
Josep RICART
H Arquitectes
Presentation of the Galenicum New Headquarters 1822 Project
14:45 – Round Table Discussion
Moderators
Elizabeth GOSSART
ACE Vice-President
Andro MÄND
City Architect of Tallinn and Member of the ACE Executive Board
Panelists
- Oliver MARTIN, Head of Section Baukultur, Swiss Federal Office for Culture
- Maria BUHIGAS, Chief City Architect, Barcelona City Council
- Marcos ROS SEMPERE, Member of the European Parliament
- Sandra BESTRATEN, Dean of the COAC ( Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya
15h30– End of the event
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An event co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
