DOMESTICITY IN EDUCATIONAL ARCHITECTURE 
The Spatial Politics of Learning Environments



International seminar at the Faculty of Architecture, Universitat Politècnica de València
KEY DATES

Deadline for abstract submission
    March 15, 2026 - CLOSED
Notification of acceptance
    Early May, 2026
Deadline for extended paper
    September 1, 2026
Seminar programme
    November 1, 2026
Seminar
    20-21 January 2027


For any questions concerning the seminar, please send an email to bodies.others@arq.upv.es
ORGANIZATION




Organising team
Dr. Paula Lacomba
Assistant Professor of Architecture
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universitat Politècnica de València

Prof. Julie Willis
Dean and Professor of Architecture
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne

Dr. Clara E. Mejía
Associate Professor of Architecture (Titular)
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universitat Politècnica de València



Scientific boardProf. Janina Gosseye
Professor of Building Ideologies
Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (BK), Delft University of Technology
Councillor EAHN

Prof. Kate Darian-Smith
The University of Melbourne President of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences

Dr. Maja Lorbek
Researcher FWF project "Transnational School Construction"
Faculty of Architecture and Planning, TU Wien

Prof. Eva Branscome
Professor of Architecture and Cultural Heritage
The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

Dr. Alejandro Campos
Associate Professor of Architecture (PPL)
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universitat Politècnica de València

Dr. Carla Sentieri
Associate Professor of Architecture (Titular)
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universitat Politècnica de València

Dr. Cameron Logan
Associate Professor
School of Architecture, Design & Planning, the University of Sydney


OrganisesResearch Group
Architecture, Bodies, Others



Departamento de Proyectos Arquitetónicos (DPA)





Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia





Universitat Politècnica de València





In collaboration with
University of Melbourne








Last Updated 15.01.26
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS







Due by
March 15, 2026
Beyond their pedagogical functions, school buildings have long served as discrete instruments of cultural and ideological articulation. Domesticity, so far little explored in contrast to other approaches, offers a way to examine how educational architecture unsettles the traditional hierarchies of public institutions —hierarchies that privilege authority, surveillance, and rational order— by introducing spatial qualities associated with care, intimacy, and welfare. During the twentieth century, educational institutions were increasingly interpreted as affectively charged environments —a ‘second home’ for children— yet such framings often rested upon particular cultural assumptions about what a home is and for whom it is meant. This call invites reflections on how domesticity, as an architectural and ideological construct, has shaped the spatial practices of schools across cultural and historical contexts. Domesticity is understood here as a culturally and historically situated mode of spatial organisation through which social ideologies are both articulated and contested.

In order to explore how the concept of ‘home’ is spatialised in educational architecture, we ask contributors to focus on how domesticity mediates socio-political conditions, including post-World War Two welfare reform, colonial legacies, and shifting norms around childhood, care, and citizenship. In what ways is the notion of ‘home’ spatially and materially reimagined within institutional environments for children and the youth? How are notions of familiarity, safety, and belonging spatially constructed, and how are they specific to diverse cultural and historical conditions? We are particularly interested in contributions that consider the school as a site of socio-material practices—where care, discipline, resistance, and identity are enacted —and which approach domesticity as a situated concept. The aim is to foreground exceptionality rather than generalisation, emphasising the specificity of cultural responses to the question of what it means to render a school ‘home-like’. By extending the analysis across elementary, secondary, and university spaces, this call also seeks to trace how domesticity is differentially interpreted according to age and curriculum.



Selected participants will be invited to contribute to an international seminar in January 2027 to be held at the Faculty of Architecture, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, leading to an edited publication.

Please submit a 300 word proposal and short (2-page) CV.
Abstracts are due by March 15, 2026.
Submissions and inquiries should be directed to bodies.others@arq.upv.es

Authors will be notified of the Organizing and Scientific board’s decision in early May 2026. Authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to submit a full paper, 2000–3000 words before the seminar.




SUGGESTED ACCOMMODATION

  • Hotel Inglés – Marqués de Dos Aguas 6, Valencia
  • Silken — Cardenal Benlloch, 28, 46021, Valencia
  • Hotel Dwo — Avenida del Puerto, 129, 46022 Valencia
  • MYR Hotels
  • SH Valencia Palace — Paseo Alameda, 32, Valencia




© Architecture, Bodies, Others 2026