10 Things To Do in Barcelona, 2026 World Capital of Architecture

Since 2020, the city hosting the UIA Congress has also been the city designated by UNESCO and UIA as the World Capital of Architecture. While the Congress, with its extensive programming and the convergence of thousands of architects over a few days, receives most of the attention, events fitting into the World Capital of Architecture have the benefit of extending across the whole calendar year and encouraging many more people—visitors and locals alike—to become aware of and appreciate the architecture of the host city. Following Rio de Janeiro in 2020 and Copenhagen in 2023, Barcelona is hosting the UIA Congress thirty years after its first go around, and it is embracing the World Capital of Architecture designation through numerous exhibitions, tours, festivals, and other events across 2026. Ten highlights, including the UIA Congress, are below, but there is a lot more going on, so be sure to visit Barcelona's official website to browse all the events taking place in the context of the World Capital of Architecture. 

We are halfway through Architecture Studio Sessions, which find architecture firms in Barcelona opening up their doors to the public to share their workspaces, philosophies, and creative processes across ten engaging sessions. The series launched in February at the office of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group (above photo) and has continued at the pace of once a month with the shared studio of Mariona Benedito and Bayona Valero in March, b720 Arquitectos in April, L35 Architects in May, and Batlleiroig just a couple days ago. Forthcoming Studio Sessions are External Reference in July, h3o architects in September, Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT in October, GCA Architects in November, and LAMÁQUINA in December. Organized by World-Architects in collaboration with Labóh and L35, the Architecture Studio Sessions also feature music curated by the architects themselves, a means of fostering connection among all participants in an open cultural format.

On February 14, the House of Architecture Barcelona opened Barcelona Plan 2026–2035 Model, a physical representation of the city that is also conceived as “an educational and urban analysis tool at the service of citizens” and “an instrument for knowledge and dissemination.” The model covers 82 square meters and is made of over 1,200 interlocking pieces that enable the model to be updated over time, effectively making it a living document of the city. Organized by Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Barcelona City Council, the model will become a permanent fixture at the House of Architecture Barcelona, which occupies the former headquarters of Editorial Gustavo Gili in La Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample.

Coinciding with EUmies Awards Days last month, Exhibition EUmies Awards 2026 opened at Palau Victòria Eugènia on May 11 and remains on display until July 5. The exhibition presents the two winners of the EUmies Awards 2026—Charleroi Palais des Expositions by AgwA and architecten jan de vylder inge vinck (Architecture Winner) and Vidic Grohar Arhitekti's Temporary Spaces for Slovenian National Theatre Drama (Emerging Architecture Winner)—as well as the remainder of the 40 shortlisted works, all “revealing different approaches to intervening in specific situations and contexts.” The exhibition was curated by Anna Sala and Ivan Blasi of the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and is located just a few steps from the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.

The Making of the Metropolis: Urban planning and territorial reality in the urban region of Barcelona 1859-2024 is on display at MMB (Museu Marítim de Barcelona) from May 15 to September 6. Organized by the Urbanisme Research Group (GRU) of the Department of Urbanism, Territory and Landscape (DUTP) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the exhibition focuses on “the process of the material construction of the metropolis and its relationship with urban planning over the last 150 years”—it starting point marked by the city's famous Cerdà Plan. A special emphasis is placed on “changes in theories of the city within urban and territorial design, and on the different modes of urban intervention applied in each period.” The urban narrative is told through maps, plans, archival and current photographs, press materials, videos and films, and headlines and concise texts. The exhibition was curated Antonio Font, Carles Llop, Miquel Corominas and Joaquin Sabaté.

On display at Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) from May 22 until September 6, Seny i rauxa: An account of Catalan Architecture is billed as “a broad and evocative journey through Catalan architecture.” highlighting its richness, diversity, and historical continuity. The exhibition was curated by architects Carme Ribas, Victòria Garriga, and Joan Roig, who were also responsible for its bold red design. Spanish-Architects visited the exhibition on its opening, explaining the title's meaning: “Seny (sanity, restraint, rigor) and rauxa (outburst, impulse, excess) are not presented as polar opposites but as two sides of the same design approach: a productive tension that runs through a century and a half of Catalan architectural production, from the founding of the Barcelona School of Architecture (now ETSAB) in 1875 to the present day.”

As its name indicates, 48h Open House Barcelona takes place over 48 hours in October (24 and 25 in 2026), but this year the festival is adding three events, each focusing on a different neighborhood. The winter and spring events already took place, leaving BARRIBARCELONA: Open Barri Summer Edition, an exhibition at the House of Architecture Barcelona from June 4 to 28. The exhibition is billed as “an open and participatory exhibition, where physical boundaries are blurred thanks to the involvement of visitors, who enrich the narrative with new contributions shared both within the exhibition space and on social media.”

The most famous work of architecture in Barcelona is Sagrada Família, the unfinished Catholic church that Antoni Gaudí worked on from 1883 until his death in 1926. With Sagrada Família 2026, the church is commemorating the centenary of Gaudí's death while also inaugurating the tower of Jesus Christ, the tallest and most symbolic part of Antoni Gaudí’s project—one that makes Sagrada Família the tallest church in the world (at 172.5 meters / 566 feet). On June 10, the Blessing and Inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ follows the Solemn Mass Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of Antoni Gaudí’s death. Later in the month, just ahead of the opening of the UIA Congress, Kazuyo Sejima and the three founders of RCR Arquitectes will speak about Gaudí and the Contemporaneity of the Sagrada Família. These are just three of many events taking place this year around Sagrada Família 2026.

Back in June 2024, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Barcelona City Council launched an international ideas competition asking young architects to submit designs for remodeling ten blank party walls spread across the city's ten districts. The winners were announced that October, with plans to implement them throughout 2026. A traveling exhibition, From Blind Walls to Façades: A Legacy for the City, is also being held, and from June 15 to July 13 it will be in the district of Horta-Guinardó. In addition to presenting the winners, second place, and third place designs, the exhibition looks at the development of Barcelona’s Blind Wall Remodeling Plan, which was launched 25 years ago and formed the basis for the competition.

The UIA World Congress of Architects takes place over five days, from June 28 to July 2, primarily at Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB) but also Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) and Three Chimneys (above rendering). The event is organized by the International Union of Architects (UIA), the Higher Council of Architects’ Associations of Spain (CSCAE), and the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC) under the theme Becoming: Architectures for a Planet in Transition, which was developed by curators Pau Bajet, Mariona Benedito, Maria Giramé, Tomeu Ramis, Pau Sarquella, and Carmen Torres via an open competition. Around 10,000 architects, educators, students, institutional representatives, and other professionals are expected to descend on Barcelona for the UIA Congress, taking in more than 100 sessions with over 250 speakers, exploring the city via dozens of itineraries, visiting the main exhibition, particapating in the Open Forum, and taking in the parties and other events swirling around the once-every-three-years gathering. This is the second time Barcelona has played host to the UIA Congress—a first for any city—following Present and Futures: Architecture in Cities in 1996.

Although the fifth annual BARQ Festival does not take place until November, the International Architecture Film Festival Barcelona is presenting a number of related events between March and September in the context of the World Capital of Architecture. Upcoming are Anatxu Zabalbaescoa and Elías Siminiani conversing about “Urban Exodus and the Re-signification of Rural Towns” on June 11, Xevi Bayona and Albert Serra speaking about “The Construction of Emotions: Cinema and architectures that challenge the human condition” on July 9, and “5 Spaces / 5 Visions,” a showcase of new short films by local filmmakers on September 17. These events are a prelude to the BARQ Festival taking place between November 3 to 8, when it will screen a selection of national and international documentary films, host parallel activities (talks, debates, workshops, conferences), and determine the best documentary and best documentary short films.