Vacantscapes: Unfolding Interiors

The Interior Educators (IE) conference Vacantscapes: Unfolding Interiors will be hosted by the School of Design at The Glasgow School of Art on Thursday 19^th and Friday 20^th of November 2026

Abundant landscapes of vacancy offer opportunities for deep exploration of the possible. Interior-centred acknowledgement of this value is longstanding. Elsewhere, the navigation of reuse is also well charted, including The Dutch Atlas of Vacancy (Rietveld Landscape/RAAAF et al), 2010) and Lacaton and Vassals ‘never demolish’ provocation. The latent capacity and value of empty sites and at-risk buildings is obvious. Vacantscapes: Unfolding Interiors will celebrate this fact.

This call encourages papers exploring the nature and potential of vacancy: both from the perspective of the study, teaching, research, practice, critique and experience of interiors; and–adjacent to the discipline of interiors–how the subject interfaces with increasingly allied fields including, but not exclusively, art practice, performance, archaeology, urban geography and human geography. This will provide an opportunity to further advance the visibility of our subject, in current and future civic and city-making action.

Abstract submissions:

• 300-word abstract
• 50-word author biography
• up to five keywords

Submissions must be in English.

Contributions will be selected through anonymous peer review. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper of 3000 words for presentation at the conference and potential inclusion in the conference proceedings. Feedback from the abstract review is expected to inform the submission of full papers.

Key Dates:

• 02 February (Mon): Abstract submission and registration details system opens
• 14 March (Sun): Abstract submission deadline (11.59pm)
• 06 April (Mon): Outcome of peer-review communicated
• 31 August (Mon): Submit Full Papers 3000 words for a 20 min presentation
• 19–20 November: Conference

For any queries, please contact interiordesign@gsa.ac.uk. 

2026 is the 20^th anniversary of the founding of IE as a subject association. This will be acknowledged through parallel activities at the event in November, more info to follow.