Architects require solid ground on which to base their practice, yet oceans have always been a key element shaping the history of architecture and the built environment. This themed conference aims to shift the focus of architectural history from the land to the sea. It will address the planet’s bodies of salt water either as areas of increasing urbanization (through the building of structures such as underwater cables, oil rigs, windmills, etc.), as connectors between space and cultures (navigation routes for people and resources, transported in the form of knowledge, labour, and materials), or as an ecosystem functioning, in connection with the land, as an essential life-support system (defining climatic patterns, providing resources from food to raw materials, and securing services from carbon sequestration to large-scale habitats). The conference aims to bring together scholars representing a wide range of interdisciplinary knowledge and sets out to cover a broad chronological scope, from deep history and archaeological sources to more recent accounts of ecological decline and potential futures. Where is the architecture of the sea? To what extent does the built environment impact saltwater landscapes? What reciprocal impacts do seascapes have on the built environment?

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The Built Ocean | EAHN

10 September 2025: Registration and Opening Keynote
11 September 2025: Paper Sessions
12 September 2025: Paper Sessions and Closing Keynote
13 September 2025: Excursions/Tours

Call for papers: 1 October 2024
Call for papers’ deadline: 18 January 2025
Final selection of abstracts and notification of speakers: 28 March 2025
Registration opens: April 2025
Early-bird registration deadline: May 2025
Registration for participants deadline: June 2025
Programme launch: July 2025
Submission of final version of paper for discussion: July 2025
Final registration deadline: 31 August 2025
Conference dates: 10–13 September 2025

General Chair

André Tavares, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto

Scientific Committee

Christy Anderson, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto
Paul Bouet, EAHN representative, Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-Est, Université Gustave Eiffel
Carson Chan, Emilio Ambasz Institute, Museum of Modern Art, New York 
Nancy Couling, Bergen School of Architecture, ETH Zurich 
Mari Lending, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Helen Rozwadowski, University of Connecticut
André Tavares, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto
Panayotis Tournikiotis, EAHN president, National Technical University of Athens 

Organizing Committee

Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto
Filipa de Castro Guerreiro
Rafael Sousa Santos
Cláudia Soares
Diego Beja Inglez de Souza

FAUP | Unidade de Comunicação e Imagem