RIXARCH ’26 / IV. International Architectural Design Conference in Riga will be held on April 1, 2026, in H2O Quarters in Riga, with pre-conference events taking place on February 26, 2026 (Global Webinar) and on March 31, 2026 (Urban Aid Workshop). RIXARCH is organized by RISEBA University's Faculty of Architecture and Design in an intersectoral partnership — uniting academia (RISEBA FAD), the NGO sector (Urban Institute Riga), and professional practice (ALPS Ainavu Darbnīca) into one coordinated platform for shaping future urban living. Proposals from all over the world are welcome, and all submitted abstracts will undergo a double-blind peer review. Abstracts can be submitted about the topic of the year or other topics about architectural design. Full papers will be published in a special section of RISEBA University’s ADAMarts journal’s 2026 volume.
CALENDER ABSTRACT SUBMISSION JANUARY 9, 2026 REGISTRATION (FOR ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS) DEADLINE JANUARY 30, 2026 SUBMISSION OF FULL PAPERS FOR PUBLICATION MARCH 20, 2026
We are proud to announce our keynote speakers: Markus J. Appenzeller – Architect and urban planner, co-founder of mla+, with extensive international experience in large-scale urban projects and a long academic career in leading architecture schools across Europe and beyond. Jonas Büchel – Social scientist and urban researcher specializing in participatory urban regeneration, cultural planning, and temporary reuse, actively advising municipalities and ministries across the Baltic region. Jonas Nordgren – Architect and co-founder of Schauman & Nordgren Architects, known for Nordic architecture with an international outlook, combining urban design, architecture, and award-winning design practice. Stefan Kurath – Architect, urban planner, and professor at ZHAW, leading research and practice on contemporary urban landscapes and the transformation of cities through design, policy, and existing structures. Michael Swiszczowski – Group Board Director at Chapman Taylor and a leading expert in residential, Build-to-Rent, and hospitality architecture, shaping future living models through award-winning projects and industry leadership.
The 2026 edition will focus on the topic of "LIV-IN:" Housing, home, and residential spaces. LIV-IN asks how we live-in cities today—and how we might live-in them better tomorrow. The hyphen signals a shift from static “housing” to processes of inhabitation embedded in infrastructures, economies, technologies, and cultures. We open LIV-IN through two lenses: LIV — life, livability, living infrastructures, living innovations. Cities as metabolic systems: energy, materials, climate adaptation, ecosystems, and social vitality. IN — in-place, in-common, in-between, inclusive, intergenerational, interoperable, intelligent. The preposition emphasizes embeddedness: living in data and platforms (smart/AI), in finance and policy, in commons and cooperatives, in everyday domestic rituals, in public–private thresholds. By bridging home-house–housing within an urban–architectural continuum, RIXARCH 2026 invites scholarship and practice that connect the scale of the room and the household to the block, district, and region—testing how design, development, policy, and technology co-produce the conditions of dwelling. When does a house become a home—and how do design, tenure, and policy enable (or erode) that transition? How do housing products (turnkey rental, co-living, micro-units) reshape social contracts and urban form? How might responsible design address affordability, climate risk, and inclusivity, without sacrificing dignity and aesthetics? We invite scholars worldwide to submit abstracts for the White Papers sessions in the LIV-IN special theme or other listed topics. We likewise invite architects, urban designers, planners, developers, financiers, policymakers, housing providers, technologists, sociologists, geographers, and student/researcher contributors engaging with house–home–housing across scales—from room and building to neighborhood and region—to participate in the conference.
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