Architecture and the Media

How is architecture communicated beyond traditional media? What role do festivals, public programs, and awards play in shaping narratives around the built environment? Architecture and the Media 2025 brings together leading voices in journalism, design, and cultural production to examine how architecture enters public discourse through the lenses of events and recognition.

Held at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, within the framework of Barcelona's Setmanes d’Arquitectura and the EUmies Awards Talks, this fourth edition explores how architecture is not only built but broadcast—how its meaning is shaped through storytelling, selection, and spectacle.

The program includes an opening conversation on how architecture enters the editorial agenda of mainstream media; a participatory workshop by Lab212 exploring the materiality of invisible digital networks in public space (in collaboration with the European platform LINA ), two roundtables: one on the power of festivals and installations to foster civic dialogue, and another on the communicative function of architectural prizes as cultural legitimators. The event concludes with a forward-looking conversation about Barcelona’s role as host of the UIA World Congress and UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture in 2026.

Participants include Amy Frearson (Dezeen), Giulia Ricci (About magazine), and Laura Sangrà (Betevé), who will discuss how architecture festivals act as content-generating ecosystems; Béatrice Lartigue and Nicolas Guichard (Lab212),  who lead the exploration of architecture, perception and data together with Lara Monacelli Bani from architecture office (Atelier Remoto) and Jacopo Biffi (Alte Sfere), contributing to a conversation on cross-disciplinary media practices; and journalists Luis Alemany (El Mundo), Pilar Marcos (Diseño Interior), Albert Nogueras (Núvol), Isabelle Regnier (Le Monde) and Graham Keeley (Euronews) among others speakers, who will reflect on the narrative potential of major architectural events and awards. The conference is curated by Miriam Giordano (Labóh) and moderated alongside Ivan Blasi (Fundació Mies van der Rohe).

Architecture and the Media is co-organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Labóh, with the support of Creative Europe, as part of the dissemination program of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – EUmies Awards.

The event will take place from May 26–27, 2025 and includes:
–One opening conversation
–Three roundtables
–18 speakers
–One workshop
–One closing conversation

More information here.