The BIG SEE Festival returns to Portorož, Slovenia in 2026, as the leading architecture and product design platform in southeast Europe, bringing together architects, designers, brands and decision-makers from across the world. Formerly known as BIG Architecture and BIG Design, the unified BIG SEE Festival reflects an expanded ambition: to frame architecture and design as critical tools for navigating complexity, responsibility, and change.
At the centre of BIG SEE Festival 2026 is one urgent question:
Too much? What is just enough? We live in a time of abundance. More images, more buildings, more products, more tools, more opinions. While architecture and design operate within unprecedented freedom, the question of measure has rarely felt more pressing. The challenge today is no longer whether something can be built or designed, but whether it should be — and why. Architecture and design were never meant to feed excess. They exist to provide structure, shelter, orientation and dignity; to bring order where there is chaos and meaning where there is complexity. When everything becomes possible, the ability to choose restraint becomes a responsibility.
At BIG SEE Festival 2026, this theme is not treated as a slogan, but as a guiding framework that shapes the entire platform — from the conference and awards to the trade show, exhibitions, talks and editorial content. The festival unfolds across three interconnected layers: the conference provides space for reflection and debate on measure, relevance and meaning in architecture and design; the awards recognize outstanding architecture and product design, highlighting work defined by clarity, intention and real context rather than excess; and the trade show presents a curated selection of materials, products and technologies that architects genuinely need to specify, trust and build with. Together, these layers aim not to prescribe answers, but to sharpen awareness of scale, relevance, responsibility and long-term impact.
Conference
The BIG SEE Conference is where architecture and design pause — and take responsibility. Curated through five perspectives — Architecture and Relevance, Urban Humanity, The Great Reduction, BIG and Measure in Architecture — by Selçuk Avcı, Einar Jarmund, Lutz Kucher, Tanja Završki, and Aleksander Ostan, the programme confronts some of the profession’s most uncomfortable questions: who architecture truly serves today, how cities can remain human, where reduction becomes intelligence and how ethical measure can guide design decisions.
Established and emerging practitioners are deliberately paired to create friction rather than consensus, and the format invites active audience participation. This is not a sequence of polished presentations, but a space for real exchange —where assumptions are challenged, responsibility is shared and architecture is discussed as a discipline that must once again serve life rather than image. Participants leave not with formulas, but with sharper judgment, renewed perspective and questions that extend far beyond the conference hall.
BIG SEE Awards 2026
Launched in 2018, the BIG SEE Awards initially focused on southeast Europe and have since evolved into an international recognition of meaningful achievements in architecture and product design. At BIG SEE, an award is not a trophy. It is a professional acknowledgment of work that demonstrates substance over scale, clarity over spectacle, and originality rooted in real context. Winning projects gain strong international visibility across the BIG SEE platform and become part of a wider, year-long editorial and festival narrative.
Regular submissions for the BIG SEE Awards 2026 in Architecture & Interior Design, and Product Design are open until March 15, 2026, at bigsee.eu.
Trade Show
The BIG SEE Trade Show is a curated alternative to large commercial fairs. Intended for architects and designers who influence real projects, it presents innovations that truly matter — from early design thinking to specification and execution — prioritizing relevance, dialogue and long-term impact over volume. As part of the BIG SEE ecosystem, the trade show creates meaningful connections that extend well beyond the event itself.
With more than 3,000 visitors from over 21 countries and over 100 curated exhibitors, BIG SEE Festival 2026 creates a dense yet considered professional environment — where visitors do not simply pass by, but engage, connect, and shape the projects of tomorrow.
