Practices in Research #07 Un-Disclosed: Exposing the Dirty Documents, the Controverses and the Confession, the Back-site of Design Processes in Architecture
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hortence is the research centre for Architectural History, Theory and Criticism of the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta of the Université libre de Bruxelles
20th of May 2026 – rue de l’Ermitage 55 et Rue Wafelaerts 47-51 – 9h30 doors; 10h Welcome
https://www.architectureinpractice.eu/conferences
Practices in Research – Conference and Lecture – 20th of May 2026
PRACTICES IN RESEARCH #07 practice-based research conference
Kanal Architecture (rue de l’Ermitage, 55 – Brussels)
09:30 door
10:00 welcome
10:20 sessions 1, 2, 3 & 4
13:30 sessions 5, 6, 7 & 8
15:30 sessions 9, 10, 11 & 12
17:20 plenary session
19:00 Lecture by Bart Hollanders (Eagles of Architecture) and Albena Yaneva (Politecnico di Torino)
free entry – UCL Loci Brussels (rue Wafelaerts, 47-51 – Brussels)
supported by : ULB, KU Leuven, ULiège, UCLouvain, UAntwerpen, Politecnico di Torino, Kanal Architecture, FNRS, As Found Scientific Research Network
In architectural discourse, what is shared is often polished: the final render, the built result, the curated narrative. Yet behind every project lies a dense, messy, and often invisible terrain of effort, negotiation, failure, and persistence. PiR #07 – Un-Disclosed invites contributors to turn the spotlight toward this “dark side” of practice—the backstage, the back-office, the back-and-forth. We call on architects, designers, researchers, and educators to share the unseen labour of their work: the annotated spreadsheets, the marked-up plans, the failed competitions, the internal debates, the moments of doubt and discovery. These are not just remnants—they are critical sites of learning, where practice is shaped, challenged, and redefined.
This symposiuim seeks to uncover the undisclosed processes that rarely make it into publications or exhibitions yet form the backbone of architectural production. We are interested in the documents of struggle and negotiation: the iterations, the revisions, the test models, the internal emails, the contracts, the whispered questions of “are we still relevant?” or “is this still beautiful?”. At the same time, Un-Disclosed opens space for reflection on architectural taboos and tensions: the aesthetics of failure, the politics of visibility, the ‘fashion’ cycles of design, and the emotional labour of staying having a societal impact and surviving in a shifting professional landscape. What do we choose not to show, and why? What does this say about our values, our vulnerabilities, and our ambitions?