How to Cite
Abstract
On behalf of the European Association for Architectural Education, founded in Brussels in 1975, I am pleased to welcome you to the EAAE Annual Conference and General Meeting 2026, hosted in the inspiring setting of Cagliari, Sardinia, by the School of Architecture celebrating the 20th anniversary of its foundation. As we look ahead to this gathering, environmental challenges, social transformations, and deep geopolitical tensions continue to redefine the contexts in which architecture operates. In response, architectural education has an important role to play: not only in preparing future professionals, but also in fostering critical thinking, experimentation, and new ways of imagining how we inhabit the world. The conference theme, XS–S–M: Architecture of the Fitting, invites us to reconsider questions of scale, relevance, and appropriateness in architecture. At a moment when resources are limited and many territories, especially peripheral and fragile ones, are undergoing profound transformation, the idea of fitting becomes increasingly important. It encourages us to think of architecture not in terms of size or spectacle, but as a practice of careful calibration, attentive to place, responsive to communities, and mindful of ecological limits. For the EAAE community, this theme resonates strongly with the evolving mission of architectural education. Across Europe and beyond, schools are developing new pedagogies, research agendas, and collaborations that respond to the complex realities of our time.
