Entering its fourth decade, the highly regarded Monterey Design Conference (MDC) bills itself as an intellectually vibrant weekend that promotes casual conversation among attendees and its illustrious presenters, which in the past have included Pritzker Prize laureates Rem Koolhaas, Shigeru Ban, and Thom Mayne. This year’s MDC did not disappoint.
The three-day event, organized by the AIA California Council, took place in October at a historic Monterey Peninsula conference center, where a number of the structures were designed by Julia Morgan. Over 900 attendees, 750 of them architects, were treated to thought-provoking, inspiring, and often amusing lectures by some of today’s leading practitioners from around the world, including Copenhagen-based Dorte Mandrup and Paris-based Dominique Jakob. Tokyo-based Sou Fujimoto, along with New York–based Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, brought the house down with respective presentations that, in both cases, were visually stunning as well as hilarious. Emcee Reed Kroloff set the tone for the relaxed affair, which also included fireside festivities, a film screening, house tours, and a reception sponsored by Architectural Record honoring 2017 AIA Architecture Firm Award winner Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects of San Francisco.
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