NCBDS 39
February 29 – March 2, 2024
Welcome to the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student 39 (NCBDS 39) hosted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette School of Architecture and Design and Louisiana Tech University School of Design. This site will provide you with much-needed information about the upcoming conference. The website will be updated as the academic year progresses and as the conference draws near.
We look forward to welcoming you to Lafayette, Louisiana in February 2024!
Conference Theme: Shared Resources
At a time when physical and financial resources seem alarmingly diminished but data is ever more accessible, this year's conference will focus on the ways that beginning design courses introduce the concept of shared resources at the global, regional, and institutional scale. This conference celebrates the dexterity and ingenuity of sharing to problem solve, to stretch resources, to utilize resources in ways that overlap, and to build community and resilience through group work. Shared Resources will be framed through faculty development of pedagogy in relation to research, design assessment, writing initiatives, design thinking exercises, and ideation techniques.
Important Dates
Full Paper and Project Submission Date Extended
Feb 28, 2024 - Presentations Uploaded
Feb 29–Mar 2, 2024 - NCBDS 39 Conference
GLOBAL
Pedagogy and projects that focus on shared or scarce resources like water, air, energy, and materials. These projects may introduce physical, social, or economic borders and how to share solutions that cross those borders. For example, papers could discuss applying design thinking principles across large-scale systems such as those related to international trade or resiliency. Papers might emphasize collaboration and interaction through travel, community-involved projects, or digital learning communities and online educational resources. Pedagogy might also scaffold the accessibility and availability of data, information, or personnel that might not be always readily physically accessible.
REGIONAL
Pedagogy and projects that celebrate and contextualize the culture and ecosystems of the places where our universities are located, where our students are from, and the diverse stakeholders within our regions as a basis for shared experience and the exchange of resources. This theme considers the transfer of knowledge between histories and cultural perspectives to provide learning environments that celebrate the sharing of resources. This theme may also include how design resources are shared to establish specific pedagogical connections with high schools, community colleges, and other universities.
INSTITUTIONAL
Pedagogy and projects that find innovative ways to share spaces and technology. Projects and pedagogy may cross disciplines within the university or utilize research centers and other institutional resources like archives, museums, and libraries. For example: how foundation coursework might use a materials library, a digital resource center, or collaborate with faculty or students from another discipline. This includes projects and pedagogy in beginning design coursework that act as a shared resource and as foundation to coursework in later years, and how those curricular links are made explicit.
This year’s conference theme intends to reflect the conference location: a place long defined by Indigenous, Creole, and Cajun communities and joined by more recent immigration from Asia, South America, and the Middle East. In Louisiana, ingenuity is employed in the face of adversity and scarcity, using available resources to create a unique thriving cultural and commercial mélange.
The region’s spirit of abundance through "making do" is illustrated in the Cajun Mardi Gras song, sung by costumed revelers as they walk through the prairie from home to home, asking for ingredients for a communal gumbo – a dish that combines elements and culinary practices derived from African, French, Spanish, and Choctaw culture.
Cajun Mardi Gras
Ça passe une fois par an, demandé la charité,
They come by once per year, asking for donations.
Quand-même ça c'est un poule maigre, ou trois ou quatre coton maïs.
Sometimes it's a skinny chicken, or three or four corn cobs.
Capitaine, capitaine, voyage ton flag, allons chez un autre voisin,
Captain, captain, wave your flag, let's go to another neighbor's.
Demandé la charité pour les autres qui viennent nous rejoindre,
Asking for help from everyone who'll come join us later,
Les autres qui viennent nous rejoindre, ouais, au gombo ce soir!
Everyone who'll come join us later, yeah, at the gumbo tonight!
The Balfa Brothers play La danse de Mardi Gras