Venue: Churchill College, University of Cambridge

Theme: 'The constancy of change: making spaces and places for evolving times'

The 2027 Conference will be held at Churchill College, University of Cambridge on 22 and 23 June 2027, with a drink’s reception and announcement of the Student Prize on the evening of the 21 June held at Cambridge Union Society. 

“The only constant is change”, reflecting the philosophy of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is a key component of university planning, looking into the past, the present and the future.

The 2027 Annual Conference of the University Design Forum will be held at the University of Cambridge, which was founded over 800 years ago in 1209 and has developed and changed over the centuries to remain one of the world’s great universities.

The conference itself will be based at Churchill College, the result of an architectural competition which in its day was innovative and broke from traditional Cambridge college design. The 1959 architectural competition is considered by many to be a watershed moment in British Post War architectural history.

The theme of the conference is ‘The constancy of change: making spaces for evolving times’. How do designers create flexibility for the future and anticipate the many changes that are already anticipated, including the tricky question of whether universities have too much physical estate in the modern digital world? How are historic buildings, old and modern, of which there are many across the university sector, being adapted and changed to give them new lives in the 21^st century, including the challenges of diverse student bodies and of climate change targets?

The programme will include discussions and building visits, plus an event the Cambridge Union where previous speakers have included political leaders from the UK, the USA and across the world.

The University Design Forum shares its thanks to the hosts Churchill College, University of Cambridge and Cambridge Union Society.