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The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) to be held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, February 25-27, 2016, is seeking abstracts, paper and tinyTED submissions for peer review. Submissions are due October 5, 2015. Please see ncbds2016.org for more information.

NCBDS is a national scholarly gathering dedicated to the study and practice of beginning design education. For over thirty years, the NCBDS conferences have hosted a dedicated community of educators interested in pedagogy and curricular strategies associated with beginning design. Faculty, students and practitioners are invited to submit papers, abstracts and project presentations focused on introductory levels of education in all areas of design.

The College of Charleston is now accepting abstracts for its upcoming symposium Suffragette City: Gender, Politics, and the Built Environment. Exploring the convergence of these topics throughout history, the interdisciplinary event aims to inspire new research that examines how both past and present efforts have challenged customary gender roles and impacted the physical, social, and conceptual identities of cities. The deadline for paper proposals, which must be 300 words or fewer, is July 1, 2015. For more information or to submit a topic, visit arthistory.cofc.edu.

From February 20 the Vitra Design Museum will host "Architecture of Independence - African Modernism," an exhibition curated by architect and author Manuel Herz. Featuring numerous photographic contributions by Iwan Baan, "Architecture of Independence" explores the experimental and futuristic architecture produced in 1960s Central and Sub-Saharan Africa during the region's period of newfound independence.

The Museum of Estonian Architecture opens its new season with an exhibition of the latest recipients of the Alvar Aalto Medal, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos. Exhibition “The Window and the Mirror” opens at the museum today (Friday, February 13), providing visitors a first-hand experience of the works of the internationally acclaimed architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano. In 2014 Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos won the architecture competition of the Arvo Pärt Centre to be built in Estonia by 2018.

The extreme climatic conditions of the North introduce a design paradox for architects. The fragile environmental conditions require incisive designs that respond to irregular loading from strong winds, heavy snowfalls, avalanche risk zones, and extreme cold. The studio investigated a prototypical design: a unit with sleeping and cooking space for up to eight people, on a mountain site in Slovenia. The talk (on Friday, February 13th) serves as an opening for the exhibition on this project, curated by Spela Videcnik, John T. Dunlop Design Critic in Housing and Urban Development, with Rok Oman, featuring the work of her Fall 2014 studio, displayed on the Experiments Wall (in Gund Hall). Construction of the shelter is planned for summer 2015.

In the wake of her selection as the recipient of the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award for 2015, Hélène Binet's work will be exhibited at the Woodbury University Hollywood (WUHO) Gallery in Los Angeles, California. The exhibition, entitled Hélène Binet: Fragments of Light, will be open from February 28, 2015 to March 29, 2015, showcasing the highlights of the artist's career as a renowned architectural photographer. The exhibition will be initiated with an opening reception and award ceremony on February 28, 2015 to honor Binet for her achievements.

In the last two decades, the concept of urban metabolism, aiming to grasp the continuous processes of energy, material and population exchange within and between cities and their extensive hinterlands, has been subject of both extensive empirical research and, increasingly, critical discussion within the social and natural sciences. However, these interdisciplinary challenges have not yet been met with a synthetic response from the design disciplines. 

Current computational, sensing and fabrication technologies provide new opportunities for architects and designers to embed intelligence and responsive behavior directly into architectural matter. Such design tactics not only elicit new sensibilities and socio-aesthetic desires, but also instrumentalize new understandings of hierarchies, networks and organization of building systems controls. Responsive technologies play a critical role in advancing the evolving relationships between humans, constructed environments, administrative controls and natural systems. Systems that mitigate human-machine-environment interaction are evolving to encompass more complex methods of collecting and managing data that can produce subtle differences in feedback and response. 

TEX-FAB extends its reach to Austin, this year adding the University of Texas School of Architecture as a member organization. In doing so, the UT SOA is supporting the largest and most complete event to date with Michel Rojkind as our Keynote lecture with 6 speakers and 4 moderators. Moderators will delve into techniques to highlight the differences between working methods, while within the workshops, session leaders will further develop those topics as functional methods for the production of design solutions.

In February 2014, The Architecture Foundation will present Exploration Architecture: Designing with Nature, the first ever solo show of Exploration, a thought-leading architecture and design practice working in the field of biomimicry.

The 361° Conference, an initiative by Indian Architect & Builder to create a relevant platform for dialogue on architecture in India, will take place on February 19th to the 21st in Mumbai. This year's edition, based on the theme of "Architecture and Identity," will include renowned speakers, including Steven Holl and Dr. B V Doshi. More details, after the break...

Organized by the LIXIL JS Foundation, the 3rd LIXIL International University Architectural Competition invites university research laboratories from around the world for a site-specific challenge, with this year's theme of 'Retreat in Nature". The site is Memu Meadows in Taiki-cho, Hokkaido, Japan, which is composed of experimental sustainable projects including Même by architect Kengo Kuma. Calling for innovative solutions for sustainable architecture, the winning team is invited to construct the project on the site. The deadline for submissions is March 29. For more information, please visit here.