Architectural Experiences III:
Regenerative Design for Built Environment & Urban Voids

Call for Papers & Professional Workshop

Architectural Experiences 2025.pdf

Climate change is no longer a projected risk but an active and measurable condition. According to the Copernicus Climate Monitoring Programme (2024), the year 2023 recorded the highest global surface temperatures in history, consistently surpassing the 1.5°C threshold. Concurrently, Ballester et al. (2023) documented over 61,000 heat-related deaths across Europe in 2022, with mortality concentrated in urban zones—where thermal stress, infrastructural obsolescence, and inadequate passive cooling mechanisms magnify exposure. Shifting climatological baselines and erratic seasonal rhythms have begun to erode the foundational assumptions of spatial design. In this context, the concept of the void, underutilized urban lands, abandoned industrial fabrics, and residual territories emerges as both a material and symbolic space for climate-adaptive transformation. These voids are not neutral absences but socio-ecological palimpsests layered with memory, identity, and potentiality. Regeneration, therefore, must be approached not only as a technical or ecological intervention but as a historically and culturally situated act.

The “Architectural Experiences” series, organized by the Faculty of Interior Architecture (UAUIM), is an itinerant scientific initiative aimed at uniting scholars, academics, professionals, and researchers involved in various aspects of architectural research.

This third edition is conceived as a scientific platform to examine regenerative design directly related to the relation between the urban void and the built environment. We aim to expand the disciplinary lens, integrating strategies that address ecological health, carbon impact, and human well-being while incorporating theoretical, historical, and symbolic perspectives. The transformation of the void is not only a matter of spatial reactivation but of engaging collective imaginaries, socio-political histories, and the contested dynamics of territory. Traditional sustainability frameworks, while foundational, often rely on incremental metrics that fall short in the face of compounding environmental crises. Regenerative design, by contrast, articulates a paradigm premised on systemic renewal, prioritizing circular resource flows, carbon-sequestering materials, reversible construction systems, and climate-responsive infrastructures. Such approaches enable architecture to move beyond reductionism and toward net-positive outcomes.

Yet, regeneration also demands a rethinking of methodological structures. It necessitates performance-oriented metrics that evaluate energy and emissions, biodiversity indices, evapotranspiration coefficients, thermal inertia, and soil permeability. These parameters expand the design brief across atmospheric, hydrological, and ecological dimensions, calling for spatialized carbon intelligence, multi-scalar feedback loops, and hybridized natural-technological systems. In parallel, the void must be read as a cultural and political artifact. Sites of abandonment are often situated in areas vulnerable to flooding, overheating, or socio-economic marginalization. Their regeneration offers the opportunity to align ecological adaptation with spatial justice. Moreover, these spaces often carry deep symbolic and affective weight traces of memory, conflict, resistance, or erasure, requiring design to navigate physical transformation and cultural meaning.

The architect's role is reframed from aesthetic synthesis to systems mediation within this framework. Integrating environmental simulations, life cycle analyses, and participatory governance mechanisms is essential to developing interventions grounded in empirical rigor and local knowledge. In fragile or transitional territories affected by climate extremes or post-industrial decline, regenerative strategies provide adaptive, low-carbon, and community-responsive solutions.

This Call for Papers seeks to critically explore how regenerative design, in dialogue with urban voids, can reshape the built environment as a planetary, social, and symbolic repair site.

We invite academic investigations, built case studies, and speculative research that reconceive architecture and urbanism as metabolic, climate-active infrastructures. There will be an emphasis on contributions demonstrating integrated methodologies, measurable environmental performance, and the capacity to address spatial transformation's physical, cultural, and ecological complexities.

Tracks for Submission

This year’s experience should introduce new perspectives on sustainable values, based on the following aspects of the interventions:

• Climate-Adaptive Spatial Systems
  • Urban overheating, shifting precipitation, and microclimatic instability
  • Bioclimatic design, thermal zoning, passive cooling, site morphologies
  • Nature-based infrastructures that manage risk and restore comfort
• Ecological Densification and Urban Biodiversity
  • Ecological intelligence in buildings, streetscapes, and infrastructures
  • Urban rewilding, microhabitats, regenerative soil design, hydrological integration, pollinator networks, and ecological indicators embedded in architectural systems
• Carbon Descent and Circular Material Frameworks
  • Practices that radically reduce emissions through construction, reuse, and systemic material cycles
  • LCA-based design, carbon-sequestering materials
  • Reversible construction, regenerative retrofitting, and spatial strategies supporting degrowth
• Sustainable regeneration of abandoned industrial areas
  • Post-industrial landscapes: from ruins to sustainable urban ecosystems
  • Reclaiming industrial voids: adaptive reuse and circular economy approaches
  • Green retrofitting of former factories and industrial hubs
  • Bioremediation and ecological revitalization in industrial brownfields
• Preserving cultural identity in an era of carbon positive scenario
  • Regenerative architecture as a tool for cultural heritage preservation
  • Local materials and traditional techniques in contemporary design
  • Resilient cultural landscapes in the age of global urbanization
  • Community-driven regeneration: participatory design in heritage areas
  • Advanced and low-carbon retrofit solutions
• Architectural resilience in extreme conditions (earthquakes, floods, war, etc.)
  • Seismic-resistant and disaster-adaptive architectural strategies
  • Floating cities and amphibious architecture for flood-prone areas
  • Solutions and technique for developing climate refugees
  • Post-war reconstruction and regenerative urban planning
  • Self-sufficient refugee settlements and emergency architecture
• Access to resources, food, and water reserves
  • Water-positive buildings: decentralized water systems for urban areas
  • Regenerative agriculture and vertical farming in dense urban environments
  • Resilient and autonomous energy systems in architecture
  • Zero-waste urban developments and resource-efficient building solutions
• Salutogenic Architecture and Environmental Health
  • Design practices that promote physiological and psychological health in the built environment
  • Environmental health modelling, sensory comfort strategies, daylight and air quality design
  • Spatial configurations for mental restoration, and health-positive public spaces

Calendar:

• March 31^st – Official launch
• May 30^th – Abstract submission deadline
• June 30^th – Abstract acceptance
• September 12-13^th – Professional Workshop*, Constanța, Romania
• October 15^th – Deadline for full paper
• November 15^th – Full paper acceptance
• January – February 2026 – Publication launch of AEIII

Notes:

*The participants in the Professional Workshop will be selected from a limit of 10 abstracts chosen by the scientific committee. The organisers may offer other forms of participation based on invitation.

The Active Building HUB Association offers PhD students 5 (five) scholarships covering publication and participation fees. The organisers will select the authors based on the quality of their contributions.

Call for Papers / Submissions

Abstracts

Specialists in the field, professors, PhD students and profile associations are invited to submit their proposals. The participation intentions, accompanied by the contribution title, is a text containing a maximum of 500 words in English, which is expected by the 30th of May at the e-mail address: archi.experiences@gmail.com. The text should be written only in English.

Full Paper

After receiving the abstract’s acceptance, authors may submit the extended paper (maximum 3.000 words and 6 images) for publication. Instructions for editing the extended paper will be available after abstract acceptance.

Both abstract and full papers will be double peer-reviewed.

Keynote Speakers

Distinguished Prof. Arch. Emanuele Naboni – University of Sevilla, Spain

Full Professor Arch. Roberto Giordano – Dipartimento Architettura e Design, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Scientific Committee

Prof. Arch. Adriano MAGLIOCCO – Dipartimento architettura e design, Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy

Prof. Arch. Andrea GIACHETTA – Dipartimento architettura e design, Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy

Senior Lecturer Arch. Daniel Nicolae ARMENCIU – Interior Design and Design Department, UAUIM, Romania

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Emanuele MOREZZI – Dipartimento Architettura e Design, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Distinguished Prof. Arch. Emanuele NABONI – University of Sevilla

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Federica VISCONTI – Department of Architecture, Universita Federico II, Napoli, Italy

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Francesco NOVELLI – Dipartimento Architettura e Design, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Prof. Arch. Gianluigi MONDAINI – Department Construction, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Universita Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

Lecturer Arch. Giovangiuseppe VANNELLI – Dipartimento di Architettura, Università Federico II Napoli, Italy

Prof. Arch. Guy LAFRANCHI – Research Institute for Experimental Architecture (RIEA)

Lecturer Arch. Hiroki YAMADA – Teikyo University, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Japan

Prof. Arch. Horia MOLDOVAN – History & Theory of Architecture and Heritage Conservation, UAUIM, Romania

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Lorin NICULAE – Basics of Architectural Design Department, UAUIM, Romania

Prof. Arch. Luigi STENDARDO – Department of Architecture, Universita Federico II, Napoli, Italy

Senior Lecturer Arch. Luis BOSCH-ROIG – Department of Architecture, University of Valencia, Spain

Prof. Arch Maria Del Pilar MERCADER MOYANO Escuela Técnica Superior De Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Maria Luna NOBILE – Architectural and Urban Design, Umeå University School of Architecture, Sweden

Prof. Arch. Mihaela CRITICOS – History & Theory of Architecture and Heritage Conservation, UAUIM, Romania

Prof. Arch. Nana IASHVILI – Media Art Faculty, Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, Georgia

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Oana DIACONESCU – Interior Design and Design Department, UAUIM; Romania

Prof. Arch. Roberto GIORDANO – Dipartimento Architettura e Design, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Prof. Arch. Rodica CRIȘAN – Doctoral School of Architecture (SDA), UAUIM, Romania

Senior Lecturer Arch. Tsuyoshi DATE – Faculty of Art and Design, Tokoha University, Japan

Senior Lecturer Arch. Valerio TOLVE – Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Prof. Arch. Yuksel DEMIR – Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Fees

Participation involves two possible types of contribution across successive phases (P1 and P2, as described below). The first phase is dedicated solely to the publishing process, while access in the second phase implies selecting the most eloquent contributions for participation in the Professional Workshop.

P1: Call for Papers _ Paper Publishing

General participation of professionals, academics, PhD. Students, etc. include:

• Abstract Book in digital format;
• Full Papers publication in Architectural Experiences III, UAUIM Publishing House with ISSN, after double peer-review acceptance, in 1 printed & digital format (excluding delivery fee);
• Online access to keynote speakers’ presentations on the 12^th of September.

For multi-author contributions, at least one fee is required for publication. PhD. Students are eligible for a discounted cost. Authors must confirm their participation by paying the required fee.

P2: Professional Workshop

A number of authors will be selected on the 1^st of July, after the abstracts’ blind double-peer review, to participate in the Architectural Experiences III Professional Workshop. The event will take place in Constanța, Romania, on the 12^th – 13^th of September.

The workshop involvement will include:

• Participation in working sessions in person;
• In-person access to keynote speakers’ presentations on the 12^th of September;
• Coffee breaks and lunch on the 12^th of September;
• Industrial / heritage-protected site visits in Constanța;
• Social dinner (optional, with a supplementary fee).

For contributions of multiple authors, a fee is required for each participant.

Notes:

Participation in the Professional Workshop is based on the selection of the most eloquent contributions.

PP* is related to each supplementary printed version of Full Papers publication in Architectural Experiences III, at request (excluded delivery fee);

**The Active Building HUB Association offers PhD students 5 (five) scholarships covering publication and participation fees. The organisers will select the authors based on the quality of their contributions.

The PhD students participating in the event will be rewarded with:

• 4 ECTS credits for PP Student Package.
• 6 ECTS credits for PP+PW Student Package (including ABH Scholarship).

Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodation for the Professional Workshop. Organisers will facilitate logistic support.

Organizers

Main coordinator

Assoc. Prof. Arch. Oana Diaconescu – Dean of the Faculty of Interior Architecture

Local coordinator

Lecturer Arch. Daniel Nicolae Armenciu – Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Interior Architecture

Scientific coordinator

Distinguished Prof. Arch. Emanuele Naboni - University of Sevilla

Visual identity

Coordinator: Assist. designer Bogdan Ioniță.

Organizing institution

Faculty of Interior Architecture, “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning

Partners

• “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Romania
• Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy
• Accademia Adrianea di Architettura e Archeologia Roma, Italy
• Research Institute for Experimental Architecture (RIEA), Switzerland
• Active Building HUB Association (ABH), Romania

Contact

archi.experiences@gmail.com

• Mar 31, 2025 Architectural Experiences III
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• May 6, 2023 20 Architectural Experiences - Call for papers