10 November 2025: Deadline for submission of paper proposals
28 November 2025: Notification of acceptance of paper proposals
5th February 2026: Deadline for receipt of complete papers
19th to 21st February 2026: Conference dates
Manuals and histories of 20th-century architecture have paid very little attention to modern variations on the language of classicism, but, at least until the outbreak of the Second World War, classical architecture had a decisive presence throughout the world. Reflection on the principles of classicism and the reappearance of so-called ‘Postmodern Classicism’ from 1970 onwards, together with the subsequent more abstract approaches of the contextualists, present an image of 20th-century architecture in which classical language plays a fundamental role that has not yet been properly studied and analysed in the context of academic studies. The main objective of the 1st International Conference on 20th-Century Classical Architecture is the recognition, classification and critical evaluation of the different types of architectural classicism that were significant in the last century with a special focus on those authors and trends that were able to adapt classical language to the sensibilities and unprecedented conditions created by modern society.
The conference will be held in the Conference Room of the Madrid School of Architecture from 19 to 21 February 2026, where national and international experts will give lectures and presentations will be given on papers proposed by researchers registered for the conference and accepted by the Scientific Committee. Given the international nature of the conference, simultaneous translation between Spanish and English will be provided. It will be possible to follow the event live and recorded online, as the presentations will be recorded and published on the conference website in the weeks following the event, with the relevant subtitles. The conference will be followed by the publication of the proceedings in a bilingual format.
MODERNITY AND CLASSICISM
TYPES OF MODERN CLASSICISM
THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DEBATE
Registration is free, but required, and can be completed to attend either in person or online.
As part of the registration process, participants may choose to reserve a copy of the Seminar Proceedings book. The volume will be sent after its publication, which is scheduled to take place during 2026. The price of the volume is €25, not including shipping to the address indicated by the participant.
Although attendance at the seminar is free of charge, interested participants may register for the optional activities offered, at a cost of €25 per day. These activities include an informal midday lunch and guided tours on Saturday. The tours will focus on some of the finest examples of Modern Classicism in Madrid. Places for the optional activities (tours and lunches) are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis according to the order in which this reservation is completed.
Select the options you wish to include in your participation in the Congress:
Reserve a copy of the Seminar proceedings (€25).
They will be published after the Congress. Shipping costs are not included.
Lunch* on February 19 (25€)
Lunch* on February 20 (25€)
* Information on food intolerances and special diets
If you have any food intolerance or dietary restriction, please indicate it in the notes section when placing your order. A vegetarian option (not vegan) will be available. We cannot guarantee the absence of cross-contamination by traces, as this is a self-service food arrangement.
9.30 Welcome and reception of participants
10.00 Introduction
10.20 Exhibiting Classicism: A History of Contested Truths
Barry Bergdoll
10.50 Questions and answers
11.00 La otra cara del Zeitgeist: El lenguaje del Clasicismo Progresivo
David Rivera
11.30 Questions and answers
11.40 Coffee break
12.10 Louis I. Kahn, el último arquitecto del siglo XVIII
Pedro Moleón
12.40 Questions and answers
12.50 Nationless Classicism: The search for the architectural universal in Britain and America before the Second World War
David Frazer Lewis
13.05 Classical Roof Gardens in the Modern Metropolis Before 1939
Nathaniel Walker
13.20 El valor de la composición más allá del estilo. La arquitectura de Manuel Galíndez
Javier Cenicacelaya
13.35 Questions and answers
14.00 Lunch
15.30 Ars una, species mille: Clásico, moderno, vanguardista
Lucas Martí
16.00 Questions and answers
16.10 The politics of empire and resistance in the architecture of New Delhi
Swapna Liddle
16.40 Questions and answers
16.50 Coffee break
17.20 Henry Hornbostel and the American Renaissance
Michael Dennis
17.50 Questions and answers
18.00 T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings: The Last Champion of Organic Architecture
Cole M. Wagner
18.15 Armando Brasini’s Legacy and Contemporary Classical Architecture: Reframing Architectural History and Practice
Renata Jadresin-Milic
18.30 Metaphysical Order and Material Experiments: How Bernard Maybeck’s Progressive Classicism Transformed the Bay Area and Inspired Perennial Innovation
Paul Monson
18.45 Questions and answers
19.30 Closing of day 1
10.00 Rational, classical, normal. A point of view and three projects
Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani
10.30 Questions and answers
10.40 Piacentini, Loos and America: Streets and Skies
Jean-François Lejeune
11.10 Questions and answers
11.20 En el límite del Clasicismo
José Ignacio Linazasoro
11.50 Questions and answers
12.00 Coffee break
12.30 Classical Ideas in a Modernist Periodical: Aligning ideas of Modernism and Classicism in the Hungarian Architectural Journal Tér és Forma
Ágnes Anna Sebestyén
12.45 The Turn to Classicism: Architecture for Motherhood and Childhood in Fascist Italy
Massimiliano Savorra
13.00 “Modern Revival of Civic Art”: Classicism, City Beautiful, and the American Vitruvius in the Czech Lands, 1900–1960
Martin Horáček
13.15 New Classical Architecture from progression to orthodoxy: the collision of modernism and tradition in late twentieth century architecture and politics.
Robert Adam
13.30 Questions and answers
14.00 Lunch
16.00 El Clasicismo Moderno en la Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid
Fernando Vela Cossío
16.30 Questions and answers
16.40 El Clasicismo Moderno ante otras tradiciones arquitectónicas
Alejandro García Hermida
17.10 Questions and answers
17.20 Coffee break
17.50 The George VI Style: Classicism and Modernism in Britain as national representation– architecture, typography and graphic art, 1937-1951
Alan Powers
18.05 El «clásico modernizado» de Antonio Palacios frente al orden de lo clásico de Luis Moya: dos actitudes arquitectónicas contrapuestas
Javier Mosteiro
18.20 Stalin Era Palladianism: Between Cultural Legitimacy and Constructive Efficiency
Fabien Bellat
18.35 El viejo Perret, el joven Fisac y otros protagonistas del “Clasicismo Superviviente” (1939-1972)
Pablo Álvarez Funes
18.50 Questions and answers
19.30 Closing of day 2
10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Tour of Gran Vía and Calle Alcalá (Palacio de Correos, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Banco del Río de la Plata, Banco de Vizcaya, Banco Mercantil e Industrial)
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Tour of the area around Paseo de la Castellana (Maudes Hospital, Nuevos Ministerios, Church of San Agustín)
Proposals should focus on the topics scheduled for the seminar. They must be at least 1,000 words in length and include an abstract, a clarification of the structure of the proposal, and a preview of the conclusions of the research carried out, as well as a selection of at least three high-quality images representative of the subject studied.
Once the proposal has been received, the organizing team will verify that its content aligns with the objectives of the Seminar. Proposals that meet these objectives will be submitted to a selection process by the Scientific Committee. A maximum of 30 proposals will be selected. If the proposal is accepted, the author will receive the necessary instructions for preparing the final papers, which must be accompanied by a text of between 3,000 and 5,000 words and a selection of between 5 and 20 high-quality images.
They must be sent to: info@culturasconstructivas.org
10 November 2025: Deadline for submission of paper proposals
28 November 2025: Notification of acceptance of paper proposals
5th February 2026: Deadline for receipt of complete papers
Alejandro García Hermida, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Traditional Building Cultures Foundation
Lucas Martí, PhD candidate at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
David Rivera, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Tim Benton, Open University
Barry Bergdoll, Columbia University
Guglielmo Bilancioni, Università di Genoa
Javier Cenicacelaya, Universidad del País Vasco
Gian Paolo Consoli, Università di Bari
Aritz Díez Oronoz, Universidad del País Vasco
Guillermo Gil Fernández, Traditional Building Cultures Foundation
Imanol Iparraguirre, PhD candidate at Universidad del País Vasco
Jean-François Lejeune, University of Miami
José Ignacio Linazasoro, PhD in Architecture
Ettore Mazzola, University of Notre Dame
Johan Mårtelius, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskola
Pedro Moleón, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Luca Ortelli, École Polytechnique de Lausanne
William Pesson, Arcas Architecture
Witold Rybczynski, University of Pennsylvania
Frances Sands, Sir John Soane’s Museum
Markus Tubbesing, Fachhochschule Potsdam
Alejandro Valdivieso, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Fernando Vela Cossío, Polytechnic University of Madrid and CIAT-UPM
Nathaniel Walker, Catholic University of America
This seminar is organised by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation and the School of Architecture of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), with the support of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Master’s Degree in Real Estate Business Management (MDI-UPM), the Department of Architectural Composition (DCA- UPM) and the Degree in Interior Design (UPM), and the collaboration of INTBAU Spain.
The conference is organized in collaboration with INTBAU Spain, INTBAU Portugal, the Hon. City Council of Écija, the Municipal History Museum of Écija, the Royal Academy of Sciences, Fine Arts and Humanities “Luis Vélez de Guevara,” and the Fundação Serra Henriques.
