Dearq Journal — Call for Papers: Tectonic Matter (Issue 49)
Call Brief
Dearq, the peer-reviewed architecture and urbanism journal of the School of Architecture and Design at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, has issued a Call for Papers for its 49th issue under the theme “Tectonic Matter” (Materia tectónica). The submission period runs 17 April to 30 August 2026. The issue is scheduled for publication in September 2027. The call is co-guest-edited by Nader Tehrani (The Cooper Union), Julián Palacio (The Cooper Union), and Rafael Villazón (Universidad de los Andes).
Dearq is a Scopus-indexed journal with open-access publication. This is an academic publication call, not a design competition — there are no entry fees and no cash prizes. Contributors receive peer-reviewed scholarly publication in a Latin American architecture journal of documented international standing.
Thematic Framework
The issue proposes a renewed and critical engagement with tectonic thinking — what the call frames as the capacity to simultaneously connect ideas, space, materiality, constructive configuration, and design. The premise is that in a world saturated with images designed for rapid consumption, architecture is increasingly absorbed as content: buildings circulate as photogenic objects optimized for instant recognition, while the intellectual process through which ideas and spatial intentions materialize is eclipsed by the speed of contemporary communication.
The issue takes as its theoretical foundation Eduard Sekler’s 1965 formulation: tectonics is not merely what holds up or how something is assembled, but how structure and construction become legible — how they register in perception and shape architectural meaning through material presence and character. The call frames tectonics as an expressive and experiential condition, not merely a technical one.
The contemporary framing acknowledges that construction is undergoing rapid transformation: computationally mediated fabrication, robotics, hybrid workflows, and evolving material technologies are reshaping production, yet these innovations are never universal — they are reframed by local ecologies, regional standards, labor cultures, and procurement realities. Tectonic practice is therefore inseparable from geography, cultural protocols, and local industries.
Seven Thematic Areas
Submissions may address one or more of the following thematic areas:
1. Tectonics as material practice — prototyping and mockups, detailing cultures, assembly logics, and “thinking-through-making” as a primary mode of architectural research.
2. Exploration of spatial attributes through tectonic qualities — how tectonic decisions shape spatial perception and experience through enclosure, thermal atmospheres, texture, weight, and the construction of spatial limits through material configuration and structural behavior.
3. From sourcing to craft to form — the tectonic consequences of local material ecologies and the ways in which extraction, transport, scarcity, and locality shape craft lineages. Historical and contemporary studies connecting resources and logistics to architectural form, technique, and spatial vocabularies.
4. Contemporary means and methods: tools, labor, and fabrication cultures — the reciprocal evolution of materials and methods, including new technologies, computationally mediated fabrication, robotics, digital workflows, and hybrid construction cultures, especially as reframed by local practices, protocols, codes, and the realities of labor and procurement.
5. Reframing canonical paradigms through structural systems and construction logics — critical re-readings of received canons by foregrounding structure and assembly; work that revisits canonical buildings, narratives, and paradigms through structural systems, construction techniques, and their perceptual consequences.
6. Towards a critical indigeneity: peripheries and alternative lineages — contributions that identify, recover, or theorize tectonic knowledge from marginalized geographies, minor figures, vernacular intelligence, and Indigenous or locally grounded practice.
7. Tectonics as research: scholarship and pedagogical approaches — analytical and representational methods, studio and seminar frameworks, workshops, and research protocols (archives, forensics, lab testing, fieldwork, prototyping) that treat tectonics as a transferable form of architectural knowledge.
Guest Editors
- Nader Tehrani — Founding Principal of NADAAA. Recipient of the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Nineteen Progressive Architecture Awards. Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Design. Former Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT (2010–14) and Dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union (2015–22). Work exhibited at MoMA, LA MOCA, and the Venice Biennale; in the permanent collections of the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
- Julián Palacio — Adjunct Assistant Professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union. MacDowell Fellow. Recipient of the Deborah J. Norden Fund Fellowship from The Architectural League of New York. Research focused on the reinforced ceramic structures of Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste. Installations presented at the Festival des Architectures Vives in Montpellier and dieFirma Gallery in New York. Master’s degree from Columbia GSAPP; Bachelor of Architecture from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
- Rafael Villazón — Architect, researcher, and Full Professor at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá. Recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Colombian Association of Schools of Architecture (ACFA, 2023). Over 25 years of experience in academic leadership, specialized teaching, research, and professional consultancy. Research at the intersection of material experimentation, tectonic thinking, and innovation in architectural education.
Submission Fees
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| All contributors — researchers, architects, historians, educators, engineers | Free (open-access journal, no submission or publication fee) |
Prizes and Rewards
| Outcome | Cash Award | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted and published contribution | None | Peer-reviewed publication in Dearq Issue 49 (Scopus-indexed). Open-access international distribution. Academic citation record. Contribution to a themed issue guest-edited by Nader Tehrani and colleagues. |
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Submission Period Opens | 17 April 2026 |
| Submission Deadline | 30 August 2026 |
| Issue Publication (Dearq 49) | September 2027 |
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
This is an academic journal call for papers, not a design competition in the conventional sense. Dearq is the peer-reviewed journal of Universidad de los Andes, one of Latin America’s most recognized research universities, and the journal is Scopus-indexed with open-access publication. The guest editorial team for this issue is exceptionally strong: Nader Tehrani is one of the most recognized figures in North American architectural education and practice, holding the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and 19 Progressive Architecture Awards. His NADAAA practice has permanent works in the collections of the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. The theme of Tectonic Matter is substantively grounded and intellectually urgent at a moment when computational fabrication, material innovation, and the image economy are all simultaneously restructuring how architectural ideas are produced, communicated, and evaluated. The seven thematic areas cover a range from hands-on prototyping culture and craft lineages to critical pedagogy and decolonial tectonic knowledge — area 6 (Towards a critical indigeneity: peripheries and alternative lineages) is particularly relevant for researchers in the Arab world, Latin America, Africa, and South Asia working with local material traditions and vernacular structural systems. The call explicitly welcomes architects, historians, theorists, engineers, educators, and researchers, and accepts research articles, case studies, visual essays, and project documentation. Submission is through the journal’s OJS platform. There are no fees and no cash prizes — the value is academic publication in a Scopus-indexed Latin American journal of architectural theory and research. The 30 August 2026 deadline provides sufficient time to develop a rigorous contribution.
Final Thoughts
The Dearq Issue 49 call offers academic researchers, practitioners engaged in research practice, and advanced students an opportunity to contribute to a peer-reviewed, Scopus-indexed publication under the guest editorship of Nader Tehrani and colleagues. The theme is timely and the editorial framework is rigorous. For researchers working on material culture, construction systems, fabrication technology, vernacular intelligence, sustainable material practice, or tectonic pedagogy, this call is directly relevant. Submissions should be uploaded through the Dearq OJS platform; inquiries directed to dearq@uniandes.edu.co.
Registration Deadline
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