Atlantic Circulations: Architecture and Travels between Americas and Europe since the 18th Century.

The inclusion of the Americas within the horizons and intellectual concerns of travelers interested in architecture and the city since the Age of Enlightenment is essential within a series dedicated to the architect’s journey. The Americas, understood as a plural and heterogeneous continental space encompassing North, Central, and South America, were not only the stage for the extension of European itineraries but also the starting point for journeys to Europe by figures of American architectural culture, as well as a substantial part of the beginnings of Atlantic circulations that, since the 18th century, have intensified between both shores of the Atlantic. A few years before the journeys to Greece by Julien-David Le Roy and James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, the naval officer and scientists Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa traveled to the Peruvian Pacific coast and promoted the drawing of “Maps of City and Port Plans,” later published in the account of the Voyage (1748), decisively contributing to stimulating European curiosity about South American territories and cities. From the mid-18th century onward, in fact, transatlantic circulations of architectural culture between different regions of the Americas and Europe found in travel a central element.

The role of the journeys through central Italy by the Mexican Jesuit Pedro José Márquez, between 1773 and 1813, for his studies of ancient Mexican architecture, or the Royal Expedition of Mexican Antiquities (1805-1808), which included the American horizon within the antiquarian concerns of Spanish cultural circles, are just examples of shared and intersecting interests in architectural culture that found in travel a crucial element on both sides of the Atlantic since the 18th century. Parallel to scientific expeditions that documented American geography, flora, and fauna, the need to better understand territories and cities also motivated transatlantic journeys of profound political significance. Transatlantic travelers contributed to the construction of identities between Europe and the Americas, especially after the dynamics of revolution and independence. Cases such as that of Thomas Jefferson illustrate the complexity of processes involving the circulation of architectural ideas with political, social, and scientific-pedagogical implications.

The processes of colonial and capitalist globalization in the 19th century, together with the rapid technical innovation in communication and transportation, transformed the culture of transatlantic travel throughout the American continents. At the beginning of the 20th century, the shift from transatlantic sea voyages to air travel, leading to the revolution of commercial aviation in the 1950s, shortened distances while transforming the mentality and objectives of the architect’s journey between Europe and Americas. Without these transformations in the material culture of transatlantic travel, the impact of so-called “Americanism” (and its counterpart, “anti-Americanism”) on the development of modern architecture would be incomprehensible. For several decades, the journey to o North, Central, and South America constituted a ritual act loaded with symbolic meanings linked to notions of civilization, progress, and modernity. Journeys to Europe by architects from different American contexts complemented circulating ideas with cultural values tied to history and tradition, but also to artistic avant-gardes, innovative pedagogical models, and new technologies. The transoceanic journeys of architects wove a dense network of relationships and meanings that persist to this day. If changing means of transportation conditioned the culture of transatlantic travel, successive generations of architects developed their own motivations, themes, and destinations, adding new content to its symbolic weight.

The aim of the congress is to investigate the role of architects’ journeys in the evolution of architectural culture between the Americas and Europe from the mid-18th century to the present day. The congress will focus on different types of journeys, traveler profiles, and territories across the American continents, from North to Central and South America, that have contributed to the Atlantic circulations of architectural culture in the Americas, from the twilight of the Enlightenment, the processes of identity construction following independence phenomena starting with the United States and later the Ibero-American nations, journeys in search of identity within Pan-American architecture up to the European wars, America and Europe in early modernity, or the role of travel in the circulation and networks of architectural culture during the second half of the 20th century.The congress will address both journeys through Europe by architects from the Americas, and journeys through the different American regions by Europeans, with special interest in transatlantic circulations and the back-and-forth exchanges of architectural culture on both sides of the ocean, emphasizing both the interpretation of architecture in the places visited and the repercussions of these journeys for the travelers’ own architectural culture, as well as for the construction of transoceanic ties, including those of a conflictive nature.

The international congress aims to gather a limited number of contributions, representing original studies on specific cases or themes to be debated at the meeting in order to reflect on the role of architects’ journeys in the evolution of architectural culture between the Americas and Europe from the mid-18th century to the present day. The selected proposals for presentation at the congress will be published in a collective volume within the series I viaggi dell’architetto by Campisano Editore (Rome).

7th conference of the Series: The Architect’s Journeys: Circuits and Cultural Transfers across the Mediterranean and Beyond (18th-20th centuries) (2023-2027).

Scientific coordination: Joaquín Medina Warmburg. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie; Carlos Plaza. University of Seville.

Submission of proposals

Abstract (maximum 2,500 characters, including spaces), including a brief author biography (maximum 500 characters, including spaces), 2 representative images, and a reference bibliography.
Submission deadline for abstracts: by 2:00 p.m. on February 28, 2026, to the email address: viajes.arquitectura.americaeuropaus.es

From the proposals received, the scientific committee will select a maximum of 20, which must be presented during the congress, either in person or online. Selected proposals will be invited to participate in the collective volume derived from the congress, published in the series I viaggi dell’architetto by Campisano Editori (Rome).

Organizing commitee:

Marta Parra. University of Seville
Teresa Rodríguez Miró. University of Seville
Marco Silvestri. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Organizing institutions:

Universidad de Sevilla

Collaborating institutions:

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Sevilla

Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción

Grupo de Investigación Ciudad, Arquitectura y Patrimonio Contemporáneos

Asociación de historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo (AhAU)

Languages: The accepted languages are Spanish, French, Italian, and English.

Participation Modalities: In-person. Online presentations will be accepted for researchers affiliated with American universities. There is no participation fee for the congress.

The international congress is part of the series of international meetings:

I viaggi dell’architetto. Itinerari e transfers culturali nel Mediterraneo e altrove (XVIII-XX secolo) / Les voyages de l’architecte. Circuits et transferts à travers la Méditerranée et au-delà (XVIIIe-XXe siècles) / The Architect’s Journeys. Travels and Transfers across the Mediterranean and Beyond (XVIIIth- XXth Centuries) / Los viajes del arquitecto. Circuitos y traslados culturales por el Mediterráneo y màs allà (XVIII-XX siglos)

The series of international meetings (2023–2027) aims to deconstruct any univocal interpretation of the idea of travel and to highlight the multiplicity of its methods and interpretations, as well as the material and immaterial transfers produced through the connections established with history, human geography, contexts—in the broadest sense of the term—and the places visited. During the period from the 18th to the 20th century, architects’ journeys in the Mediterranean and beyond must be read and repositioned within the broader context of the problem of confronting otherness and the very way in which the notion of identity of places is defined through their perceptions and representations from the outside. Within the series, the following international congresses have already been organized:

I. Du voyage de formation au voyage professionnel en France et en Europe. París, Académie d’Architecture e all’Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-La Villette, 1-3 de junio de 2023.

II. I viaggi dell'architetto. La scoperta della natura e l'invenzione del paesaggio. Percezione, analisi e interpretazione dei territori oltre l’architettura, 1750-1989. Nápoles, Palazzo Donn’Anna, 12-14 de octubre de 2023.

III. Los arquitectos y el viaje a Oriente, mediados del siglo XVIII-años 1960. Granada, Palacio de Carlos V, la Alhambra, 23-24 de mayo de 2024.

IV. Travelling in search of the Middle Ages in Italy and Europe. Pavía-Turín, università Di Pavia-Politecnico di Torino, 11-13 de noviembre de 2024.

V. L’exil comme voyage. La Méditerranée des architectes et le monde, XVIIIe-XXe siècle. Poitiers, Università de Poitiers, 3-4 de abril de 2025.

VI. Architects and Engineers: Journeys in the Polytechnic Culture Networks, Media, and New Destinations Since 1794. Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe Institute für Tecnologie, 6-8 de noviembre de 2025.

The contributions of each congress will be published as part of a collection by Campisano Editori (Rome). The series I viaggi dell’architetto has already published the proceedings of the second congress La scoperta della natura e l’invenzione del paesaggio. Percezione, analisi e interpretazione oltre l’architettura, 1750–1989, edited by Gemma Belli, Fabio Mangone, and Rosa Sessa (https://www.campisanoeditore.it/index.php/catalogo/i-viaggi-dell-architetto).

Scientific Coordination of the Series of International Meetings:

Antonio Brucculeri, AHTTEP, ENSA Paris-La Villette HESAM Université (FR) Massimiliano Savorra, Università di Pavia (IT)

Scientific Committee of the Series of International Meetings:

Paola Barbera, Università di Catania (IT)

Antonio Brucculeri, AHTTEP, ENSA Paris-La Villette HESAM Université (FR)

Juan Calatrava, Universidad de Granada (ES)

Vassilis Colonas, University of Thessaly (GR)

Cristina Cuneo, Politecnico di Torino (IT)

Marie Gaimard, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)

Marilena Kourniati, AHTTEP, ENSA Paris-La Villette HESAM Université (FR)

Fabio Mangone, Università di Napoli Federico II (IT)

Caroline Maniaque, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)

Joaquín Medina Warmburg, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (D)

Nabila Oulebsir, Université de Poitiers (FR)

Sergio Pace, Politecnico di Torino (IT)

Carlos Plaza, Universidad de Sevilla (ES)

Massimiliano Savorra, Università di Pavia (IT)