Now that we’ve shaken off the dust from the spate of annual summer conventions, it’s time to take a breather and reflect on which conferences made a difference for us, and which were merely exercises in stamina.

Perhaps it is the fog, which envelops the pines in lush coolness. Perhaps it is the remote site beside the sea, a 3-hour drive from urbane San Francisco. Whatever the rationale, California’s Monterey Design Conference takes you out of your workaday self and sets you in a rarified state of mind. For a number of years, California architects have looked forward to this event, a biennial gathering on the green fringe of paradise, as a two-and-a-half-day design fest. Monterey Design qualifies as a retreat in the most positive sense: a gathering of like minds in a rustic setting, removed from distractions and focused on a central topic.