SOON TO BE LAUNCHED: 2022 UIA YEAR OF DESIGN FOR HEALTH 

The UIA is inaugurating the 2022 UIA Year of Design for Health with a roundtable on the subject taking place on 4 February at 14:00 CET with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz. The event will address the plethora of issues around health and well-being which face architects and policymakers around the world. UIA President José Lluis Cortés and Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization will make opening remarks.

The event will be held in English with translation into French and Portuguese.

More information

Register here

COPENHAGEN CONGRESS: MANIFESTO RELAY 2023 

The UIA 2023 World Congress will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 2 to 6 July 2023 with the theme, ‘Sustainable Futures: Leave No One Behind’.

Member Section presidents are invited to reach out to 3 architects or urbanists interested in creating a thought-provoking, creative and compelling manifesto in keeping with the theme of the UIA 2023 Congress in Copenhagen. All manifestos submitted before 12 April 2022 will be used to kickstart debate and inspire discussion during and after the UIA Congress in Copenhagen.

 More informationor contact 

LAUNCH: INTERNATIONAL ACCESSIBILITY SYMBOL DESIGN COMPETITION 

The UIA and Rehabilitation International (RI) are jointly inviting submissions for a twenty-first century accessibility symbol to represent the core values of rights and inclusion, independence, physical and virtual accessibility for all. The challenge is to develop a new symbol of accessibility that better represents the variety of people who use buildings and other types of built environments. The winning design will be proposed to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for adoption as the new international accessibility symbol.

See the brief 

Submit a design here

UIA 2030 AWARD: FIRST STAGE SUBMISSION PERIOD CLOSED 

The submission period for the UIA 2030 Award is now over. The Award, organised jointly by the UIA and by UN-Habitat to recognise architecture that delivers on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda, has resulted in 120 nominations from all five UIA Regions. The international jury will meet on 8 February 2022 to select which entries will progress to the second stage. The UIA and UN Habitat will announce the winners at the World Urban Forum (WUF11) in Katowice, Poland, between 26-30 June 2022.

More information

UIA PAST PRESIDENT HONOURED BY THE CSU

UIA Immediate Past President Thomas Vonier will be honoured by the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanisation (CSU), a global organisation based in New York City, USA.

“This award recognises individuals who enhance sustainability in our ever- urbanising world,” said Lance Jay Brown, CSU president. “Thomas Vonier is a leading global advocate for urban solutions,” Brown added. The CSU is now in its thirteenth year of collaborating with UN-Habitat and AIA New York.

LLUÍS COMERÓN GRAUPERA (1960-2022)

Lluís Comerón Graupera, President of the Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España (CSCAE), passed away unexpectedly on 25 January 2022. Born in Mataró, Spain, Lluís Comerón graduated with a degree in architecture from the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) and developed a thriving practice serving both the public and private sectors, while an associate professor at ETSAB and co-director of the Vallés School (ETSAV). 

In his first term as CSCAE President, between 2018 and 2021, he committed the college to the Davos Declaration in defense of Baukultur, working toward the inclusion of CSCAE in the New European Bauhaus project. He led the response of Spanish architects to global warming, housing accessibility, and later the Covid-19 pandemic. Under his leadership, Madrid was elected to host the UIA 2022 International Forum on affordable housing and Barcelona the 2026 UIA Congress.

More information

Leave a message of condolence on CSCAE's memorial page

HANI EL MINIAWY (1947-2022)

Egyptian architect Hani El Miniawy, 2008 Vassilis Sgoutas Prize laureate, died on 6 January 2022. Founded in the name of a UIA Past President, the prize is one of the UIA Triennial Prizes attributed at the triennial UIA World Congresses to “architects contributing to the improvement of living conditions in areas below the level of poverty”. Expert in social housing across Egypt and Algeria, he was awarded the prize at the UIA World Congress in Turin in 2008.  The UIA offers its heartfelt condolences to his family and colleagues.

The International Union of Architects (UIA) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Paris. Established in 1948, it is the only organisation representing architects across the globe working to unify architects, influence public policies on construction and development, and advance architecture in service to the needs of society.