The 22nd congress of the International Union of Architects will take place in Istanbul, hosted by the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, from July 3 – 7, 2005. The UIA General Assembly will be held on July 8 - 10, 2005.

The overall theme of the congress is
CITIES: Grand Bazaar of ArchitectureS.

'Bazaar' as a metaphor, accommodates both positive and negative ideas. The positive aspects are plurality, unity in diversity, competition in solidarity and festivity, while their negative counterparts point to commercialisation, commodification, fierce consumerism, and chaos. Architecture is first and foremost a cultural capital, the most tangible one, precipitating and solidly materialising in cities. If cities are the marketplace of such an invaluable resource, the need for their careful design and management is pressing. In spite of the overwhelming amount of funds allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of cities, the end result is often a low quality living/working environment due to the lack of expertise, creative thinking, and consideration for social justice.

The UIA Istanbul congress is an opportunity to review the global agenda of architecture. During past decades, the agendas of world architecture have recurrently focused on the concept of sustainable development, with cultural and bio-diversity taken as the bases of humanity. Today, against a background of natural disasters and global violence, we are ever more aware that our plural worlds are not immune to risks escalating globally on this single planet. It is this awareness of threats that affect everyone without discrimination that clusters the utopian proposals of today around the interrelated themes of ecology and democracy. The emergence of a "utopian ecological democracy" is said to be the essence of a new modernism.

The UIA 2005 Congress in Istanbul ventures to provide a platform where world architects can openly share their successes and failures, resistances and submissions, experiences and visions. With the awareness of belonging to a profession that constructs the spaces for life, architects will endeavour to establish new links with the decision makers, producers and consumers of the world’s cities.

Each day of the 4-day congress will develop a specific aspect of the theme.

CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD’S CITIES
     • CITIES: Grand Bazaar of ArchitectureS
     • Cases of “urban acupuncture” worldwide

ARCHITECTURE AND LIFE IN CITIES
     • Architecture: “Capital”
     • City Timescapes : Past, Present, Future

ARCHITECTURE OF CITIES
     • Architecture, City and Market
     • Design, Building, and Maintenance of Cities

ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION AND EDUCATION FACING THE CITY
     • New Forms of Architectural Profession and Education
     • Declaration of World Architects

The UIA 2005 congress will be organised in Istanbul’s 'Congress Valley', which will be set up according to the concept of a bazaar, to include both alternative events and conventional congress sessions.

Participants can select the mode of participation most appropriate to their contribution, and send an abstract or outline accordingly.

• Papers
Theoretical perspectives on the congress theme, case studies, descriptions of projects or built works

• Displays
Poster or audio-visual presentations

• Forum Activities
Topical meetings, chat rooms, speaker’s corners


Those who would like to participate in the congress in one of the above modes must present their candidature to the congress organisers before September 13, 2004, according to the following procedures:

Papers

Paper proposals for oral presentations require the submission of an abstract in English. However, presentations at the congress may be in any of the 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian and Turkish. Abstracts must be 300-400 words, while final versions will be between 2000 and 4000 words.

Displays

Proposals for display options require the submission of an outline of 100-200 words, in English, with a maximum of 2 images.

Forum Activities

Proposals will be in outline or scenario form (200-300 words), in English, and may include a maximum of 2 images.

Texts must be accompanied by a brief biographical note on the author. Images must be in .jpg or .tif format.

Abstracts and outlines must be sent either by E-mail (with the text in the body of the message and not as an attachment) or on a CD-rom sent through the post, by registered mail (text in format Microsoft Word, images in format .jpg or .tif).

AGENDA

TO BE LAUNCHED IN SEPTEMBER 2004
Organised within the framework of the 22nd UIA World Congress, the next confrontation of projects by students of architecture will be launched on September 1, 2004. Its theme will be: Extreme : Creating space in extreme and extraordinary conditions.

The aim of the confrontation is to offer future architects an opportunity to put their creative potential to the test within specific conditions that they themselves will determine, and in which they will choose to elaborate spaces that respond to uncommon geographical, topographical, ecological, social, or political contexts.

These confrontations are traditionally organised every three years, on the occasion of a UIA World Congress, and are endowed with the prestigious UNESCO Prize for Architecture, as well as other prizes offered by the UIA Member Sections.

PRINCIPAL DATES CONCERNING THE CONFRONTATION

• Launch: 1 September 2004
• Submission of projects: March 2005
• Jury meeting: June 2005

The schools of architecture in UIA member countries are encouraged to visit the congress web site starting on the confrontation’s launch date, at the following address:

Special, reduced prices are being offered for early registration.

The registration fee for participants and students includes the following:
• Opening ceremony and welcome banquet, closing ceremony
• All plenary sessions, forums, and workshops
• Entrance to the trade fair and exhibitions
• Congress kit and proceedings

The registration fee for accompanying persons includes:
• Opening ceremony and welcome banquet, closing ceremony
• Entrance to the trade fair and exhibitions
• Two half-day tours of Istanbul.

In addition to reduced rates, early registrations give you the possibility to stay up-to-date and even participate in preparations for the Istanbul congress.

Registrations and requests for further information may be made on-line using the congress website:
www.uia2005istanbul.org/engine.php?ID=1

Download the Registration Form:
Istregistrationform.pdf

INFORMATION