'The Instinct of Architecture. Origin and Evolution of Human Architecture' Exhibition

This event has already taken place.

13 June 2026 – 13 September 2026 · 10:00

Dipòsit del Rei Martí, Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi

After documenting an origin of architecture far more remote than previously believed, "The Instinct of Architecture" proposes a lively narrative that overturns the aesthetic foundations of architecture, leading us to the idea that the cross-cutting traits linking architecture across all periods and cultures may be related to the evolution of the human species itself. In 1964 Bernard Rudofsky presented the legendary exhibition Architecture without Architects at MoMA in New York, where architecture overflowed the professional sphere and was revealed as a characteristic shared by humanity. In 2023, a team of archaeologists unearthed two interlocking perpendicular beams in Zambia dating back approximately half a million years. This evidence, published in Nature, has forced preconceived ideas to be reconsidered and pushed the origin of architecture back to a time before Homo sapiens. The Instinct of Architecture. Origin and Evolution of Human Architecture presents this evidence in Barcelona for the first time and offers an accessible, well-documented visual account of the evolution of architecture: from H. habilis constructing nests similar to those of chimpanzees to the forces that…

Part of the programme: Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026. See the 43 activities in this programme in Barcelona, from September 5 to November 23.

Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona · checked on 15 September 2026

Official site

Similar, and still to come

See Barcelona's full agenda