Università di Camerino
Comune di Camerino
Ordine degli Architetti Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori della Provincia di Macerata
con il patrocinio di
INARCH - INU - CNAPPC - Archeoclub di Camerino
XXXVI Seminar and Award of Architecture and Urban Culture
OUT OF THE CITY Architectures, landscapes, suburbs
CAMERINO July 31 - August 2, 2026
Out of the city refers to a diffuse and multiform world, no longer opposed to the city but complementary to it. Social dynamics, the expansion of physical and virtual infrastructures have brought closer and hybridized city and country dwellers.
Architectures
In building restorations and in new settlements outside the city, construction methods similar to those of the urban periphery have been reproduced, at best, in vernacular repetitions sometimes false and pushed to the excess. These are both destructive methods of the relationship between architecture and place. Methods used by those who erase any possibility of dialoguing with the preexisting, and by those who, by transfiguring it, consider every experience of the past as eternal and immutable.
Landscapes
Landscapes, declinated into plural, indicates the plurality of meanings the term implies.
Trivially, landscapes are meant as more or less picturesque views. Actually landscapes express the character of the communities that shaped them, the uniqueness of their history and lives in a close symbiosis with climate, geography and soil morphology
These characteristics have determined living conditions and the transformation of natural spaces into places to be handed down and transformed for generations. Intervening in different landscapes, therefore, means understanding their meaning, respecting their character and interpreting the preexisting with architectural materials and language, without mimicry or banal reproductions.
Suburbs
Once the founding reasons for ancient rural and mountain settlements were extinguished, they were subjected to a constant depopulation and progressive abandonment phenomenon, which, in some cases, was followed by regenerative cultural-tourist interventions. In terms of human and natural resources, these initiatives if not integrated with the diverse characteristics of the places tend to conform peripheral areas to standard models that increase, rather than reduce, their fragility and dependence on exteral factors.
Program
The XXXVI Seminar on Architecture and Urban Culture is a three-day event in which architects are invited to present their projects on the various aspects of the proposed theme
There are two sections: completed works and projects. In the spirit that has always characterized the Camerino event of introducing young graduates to the profession students are invited to participate in the second section (Projects) Presentations will alternate with discussions on project topics, aspects of architecture and communication.
On the final day, the SACU - Camerino 2026 Awards will be presented, divided into two sections: projects and completed works. The works presented by the Award participants will be included in a catalog.
A monograph of the Seminar will be published in the serie ‘Architettura e Città’, published by Di Baio Editore.
How to attend the seminar
Students, researchers, teachers, professionals and practitioners interested in the topic can participate in the seminar. Participants will stay at university colleges at agreed costs.
The registration fee is 100€, (50€ for students).
Application must be received by July 25, 2026.
How to enter the competition
Participation in the award is optional and is reserved for those enrolled in the Architecture and Urban Culture Seminar - Camerino 2026. Professionals, graduates and students of Italian and international Schools of Architecture and Engineering can participate. Participation can take place both individually and in groups. In the case of group participation, it will be sufficient for at least one member of the group to register and participate in the seminar. Each participant, single or group, may present only one work.
Unpublished works (projects, research, completed works) completed from 2021 onwards are admitted. The same must be relevant to the design themes proposed by the seminar and contain the inspiring principles highlighted in the introduction; in particular they must contain innovative elements of ideas, technologies, programs for an ecological and quality Architecture.
Required documents
The submission of entries involves two distinct phases:
First phase: the application form and two files with the most relevant information on work/project must be submitted by 10 July 2026. The summary should consist of some illustrations and a short text (font Arial, body not less than 9) all clearly readable and reproducible typographically. This documentation should be contained in two files in JPG or PDF format, 300 DPI, each of size 18 x 26.7 cm h. In the header of the first folder the author/s and title of the work should be highlighted. Participants should also highlight the context in which the project experience was carried out (Institution or University, Year, Course, Thesis, Supervisor, …).
All the material will be collected and published in the catalogue.
Second phase: from Sunday July 30, each participant will have an exhibition area of about cm 80x180h, where designs, tables, photographs and other material can be exhibit. Please note that only adhesive tape (removable) or hangers on rigid support are permitted. Over the course of the days, participants will be able to present their work with a video and a communication for a total time of 8 minutes.
Clarification requests can be sent by e-mail to sacu.camerino@unicam.it. the answers will be published on the FAQ page.
Award - Jury
The SACU 2026 Architecture Prize consists of a total of € 3,000 broken down as follows:
€1,000 to the 1st place in the completed works session
€1,000 to the 1st place in the projects and research session
€1,000 Critics Award
n. 2 reported works
It is possible to award ex-aequo prizes. All the works awarded and reported will be published in the issue 21 of the ARCHITECTURE and CITY series.
The award ceremony will take place at the end of the seminar. The works will be selected with a vote expressed by the participants enrolled in the seminar. Finally, a Commission composed of professionals and professors invited to the seminar, will assign, at its final discretion, the prizes and awards provided. The same Commission reserves the right to assign the Critics' Award among all the works presented.
Secretariat - Information
Eleonora Branchesi, tel. + 39 3396506447
sacu.camerino@unicam.it
Director: Giovanni Marucci, giovanni.marucci@unicam.it
