Event

Graduating students present papers based on their theses, alongside presentations by professional design critics and thinkers who help to frame and contextualize their work. This year's conference is moderated by architecture critic and curator Justin McGuirk who provides translation among ideas between students and a headlining roster of keynote speakers representing interests in curation, literature, theory and design futures. Topics of discussion include the branding of emergent nation South Sudan, design education and identity in the Gulf region, the ethics and aesthetics of body modification, the role of tiny houses and micro-apartments in twenty-first century urban planning and the new complexion of urban American surf culture.