Under the influence of omnipresent COMPUTERIZATION (ubiquitous computing), SIMULATION (building information modelling) and DIGITAL NETWORKING (internet of things), instead of being an active agent, architecture seems to turn more and more into a passive witness of our society’s cultural transformation. With far-reaching implications for society, architecture gradually abandons its social aspirations. This is especially the case where architecture mimics the digital tools which should be at its service.

The conference Think. Design. Build. Architectural Matters will look at the three fundamentalknowledge practices of architecture: The practice of THINKING (concept/word), DESIGNING (drawing/model) and BUILDING (material/structure). A focus will be the critical analysis of the models, methods and medial practices of that which can be expressed in WORDS (idea), represented in DRAWINGS (creation), and constructed in MATERIAL (realisation). The conference will analyse how the three knowledge practices are interconnected, and how knowledge is transferred, transformed and accumulated. The conference will investigate the theoretical conception of architecture at the point of transition between the abstract and the metaphorical content of language. Secondly it will look at the design conception of architecture and thus at the design process as an agent and catalyst between idea and realisation, and thirdly it will concentrate on the constructive and material conception of architecture and thus on the translation from idea to the concrete material object.