The Built Ocean
Thematic Conference European Architectural History Network
The Built Ocean Thematic Conference European Architectural History Network
September 10-13, 2025, Porto
Architects need solid ground to establish their practice, yet oceans have always been a key element in defining the built environment. The Built Ocean conference proposes a unique reflection: what if the history of architecture were also told from the sea?
FAUP is hosting a thematic conference of the European Network for the History of Architecture. The four-day event will address the vast bodies of salt water that are the oceans, both as areas of increasing urbanization (through the construction of structures such as submarine cables, oil platforms, or wind farms), as connecting elements between space and cultures (through navigation routes for people and resources, forms of knowledge, work, and materials), or as ecosystems that, in connection with the land, play an essential role in supporting life (they define climate patterns, provide resources, and guarantee services such as carbon capture or large-scale habitats).
The conference brings together researchers from various fields of interdisciplinary knowledge and considers a broad chronological scope—from historical and archaeological perspectives to more recent approaches in the context of ecological decline, as well as consideration of future scenarios. Where is the architecture of the sea? To what extent can the built environment impact saltwater landscapes? What are the reciprocities between marine landscapes and the built environment?
More than forty speakers from around the world will present their work in person, including researchers from Harvard to Sydney, São Paulo to Oslo, Malaysia to Costa Rica, Porto to Toronto, and Lisbon to Reykjavik. Geographers Phil Steinberg and Kimberley Peters, whose recent work has shed light on the new ontologies of the oceans, will present the conference “Ten Myths About the Ocean,” which will kick off the event with a session open to the general public at Cinema Passos Manuel.
The scientific committee is composed of André Tavares (University of Porto), Christy Anderson (University of Toronto), Paul Bouet (ENSA Paris-Est, Université Gustave Eiffel), Carson Chan (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), and Panayotis Tournikiotis (National Technical University of Athens).
Registration is now open. Early bird rates and student discounts are available until June 14.
www.thebuiltocean.com
Conference co-organized by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto and the European Architectural History Network, as part of the Fishing Architecture research project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) through a Consolidator Grant under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program (agreement no. 101044244).