Adventist Architects Meet Under the Conviction That “Form Follows Faith”

The Department of Architecture at Sahmyook University in Seoul, South Korea, successfully hosted the fifth International Biennial of Adventist Academic Architecture (BIAAA) from September 29 to October 2. The venue for the 2025 gathering was the university’s International Education Center.

Since its first gathering at Montemorelos University in Mexico in 2017, this event marked its fifth edition this year at Sahmyook University, organizers reported. BIAAA is an international academic conference that brings together architects and students from Adventist universities around the world to reflect on how architecture influences both society and the life of the Adventist faith community, while fostering scholarly exchange and collaboration, they explained.

The theme of BIAAA 2025 was “Form Follows Faith.” It is a conceptual realignment of the modernist dictum “Form Follows Function,” inviting participants to explore the relationship between the essential purpose of architecture and the convictions of faith, organizers reported.

More than 40 faculty and students traveled from the United States, Brazil, Peru, and Mexico to join the conference, alongside approximately 250 faculty and students of the Sahmyook University architecture program. During the four-day event, the participants engaged in paper presentations, key lectures, and architectural field studies, something that, according to organizers, helped foster both academic exchange and collegial friendship.

A poster session was held immediately after the opening ceremony, exhibiting 42 research projects from five countries. “It was an opportunity to share architectural perspectives and faith-based interpretations from diverse cultural contexts,” organizers said.

On the second and third days, faculty members from various countries and university-based project presentations delivered targeted lectures. Keynote presentations explored diverse themes, including “Three Keys to Seeking a Space of Hospitality,” “A Place for Spiritual Experience,” “Ecological Architectural Design in the Era of Climate Change,” “A Faith Like the Waldensians’: Testimony of Faith in Architecture,” and “Thermal Comfort in Pop-up Temporary Housing—The Case of San Martín, Peru.”

On the final day, participants joined the “Joseon Dynasty Seoul Tour,” visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seochon, Cheonggyecheon Stream, and the Jongmyo Shrine, where they experienced the heritage and architectural principles of traditional Korea.

During the conference period, department chairs and deans from participating universities held a separate meeting to discuss future direction for BIAAA and ways to expand international collaboration. According to event organizers, these members agreed to strengthen joint research and student exchange initiatives. The sixth BIAAA will be held in 2027 at the Montemorelos University in Mexico.

The original version of this story was posted on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division news site.