Date:
Location: Albuquerque , United States
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning is hosting the 41st National Conference of the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) February 26-28, 2026.
Conference organizers are currently accepting abstracts for blind peer review in response to the conference theme of Projective Environments.
The beginning years of design education are informed by the interaction of environmental, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries within the territory we inhabit. While foundational pedagogical practices can be dominated by Eurocentric and canonical models of aesthetics and form, how can we explore plural foundations in architectural education?
Projective Environments bridges the disciplines that design in and for the built environment to frame design education as an interdisciplinary practice rooted in responsible pedagogies, responding to how current design decisions impact future worlds. In addition, we are interested in how feedback loops from individuals in academic, both students and faculty, influence developments in regional pedagogy and broader design education. This conference invites scholarship from the constellation of design programs that explore how geographics, environments, and situated knowledge ground design and technical understanding.
These discussions extend to broad definitions of not only design but to what constitutes foundational or “beginning” pedagogy as well as how history/theory intersect with the conceptual, practical, and technical aspects of design education.
Abstracts for Long Paper (4000-5000 words) and/or Short (Project) Paper (1000-2000 word) submissions can be submitted for blind peer review on the conference website through October 10, 2025.
All abstracts will undergo blind peer review. Accepted abstracts will be notified by December 3, 2025 and invited to submit a full paper.
More about NCBDS:
NCBDS is a national peer reviewed scholarly gathering dedicated to the study and practice of beginning design education. For over 35 years, NCBDS has provided a forum for design educators to present papers and project and hold discussions related to introductory design issues.
Learn more about NCDBS here.
More about the University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning:
The School of Architecture and Planning sits along historic Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque, offering views west to the Rio Grande River Valley and east to the Sandia Mountains. Albuquerque/Sante Fe comprises the largest metropolitan area in New Mexico with a population of about 900,000 within a larger context that includes rural villages dating back hundreds of years, twenty-two Pueblo communities, and the Navajo Nation.
SA+P is well known for its connections to the region and for understanding the value of working directly on key issues of design and development in the state and region, including critical issues of sustainability and the planning/design of healthy communities. The School has a strong reputation for teaching and providing professional insight into ways that history, culture, and the physical environment shape (and are shaped in) the region.
Learn more about SA+P here.
