Events: Arizona - Phoenix - Scottsdale

The Cosanti Foundation (TCF)— the Arizona-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to demonstrate a kind of construction and community that offers an alternative to sprawl development and a solution to modern social and environmental crises with two signature properties in Arizona — has partnered with Kennesaw State University (KSU) to present the 2023 BTES Conference at Arcosanti in Mayer and Cosanti in Paradise Valley.

Themed “Beyond the Artifact: Constructability, Complexity, and Constraints,” the conference takes place Thursday, June 1 through Saturday, June 3. The event is designed to engage architecture in its role as a cultural agent and examine the way buildings establish and organize dynamic relationships not only between site, program, and material but also architecture and ecology. 

“Rather than seeing architecture from the ‘outside as object’ or built artifact, we need to instead understand the built realm as a form of production ‘from within’ to create a site of negotiation,” says Liz Martin-Malikian, CEO and executive director of The Cosanti Foundation. “During this three-day conference, we will have a series of paper sessions to open up a discussion and explore the best pedagogic practices, relevant research, scholarship, and other creative activity to facilitate student learning, advance innovation, and enhance the status ofbuilding technologydisciplines in the profession at large.” 

The conference is broken down into the following four sessions:

Constructability — The awareness for the method of construction of buildings, their systems,
materials and assembly
Complexity — The theories that seek to clarify the relationship between people and places including, among others, historical, archival, ethnographical, experimental, simulation,
survey, mapping, statistical and qualitative analysis methods
Constraints — The range of techniques on gathering, assessing, interpreting and comparatively
evaluating relevant information for inquiry, education and methodologies
Open Artifact — The process of ‘making’ through abstraction and autonomy as a speculative
mode of architectural production

In addition to themed sessions, the schedule is set to include keynote speakers, tours of Cosanti and Arcosanti, stargazing, open-themed discussions, and some shared community meals. Conference registration cost begins at $425 for BTES members; non-member early bird registration is $475. Student cost is $175 with valid active student ID. To register, visit checkout.eventcreate.com/btes/select-buy.

For more information about The Cosanti Foundation, visit arcosanti.org and cosanti.com.