Archtober–New York City's Architecture and Design Month–is back for another year. The anticipated month-long festival from Oct. 1-31, 2014 continues to grow with a variety of engaging exhibitions, conferences, films, tours, and other activities for all ages to celebrate the value of architecture and design in everyday life.

For the fourth year, Archinect & Bustler are proud to once again be Archtober's digital media sponsors.

From the long list of Archtober events, here are some exciting highlights to take note of in the week of Oct. 17-24:

• Counter Culture: Factory Tour of IceStone | Oct. 17
  Join a tour through the IceStone manufacturing facility and learn about their sustainable process of transforming waste glass into eye-catching surface materials. Also learn about the manufacturer's social and environmental practices that have distinguished them in the green building industry.
• Building of the Day: Navy Green Supportive Housing | Oct. 18
  Explore the Navy Green Supportive Housing building, a 98-unit supportive housing facility for chronically homeless people with mental illness and/or chemical addiction. The building is part of the winning Navy Green development for NYC HPD’s Brig Site.
• Landscape Design Portfolios Lecture Series – Shunmyo Masuno: Zen and the Japanese Garden | Oct. 20
  As part of the New York Botanical Garden's Landscape Design Portfolio Lecture Series, Japan’s most celebrated landscape architect and Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno will present his signature projects, work methods, and design philosophy. Seats are currently full, but it's still worth getting on the waitlist.

• Guided Tour of Governors Island, New Park and Public Spaces | Oct. 21
  Designed by WEST 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, the first 30 acres of the new park and public spaces at Governors Island is now open to the public! Click the link above to reserve a spot.

• Issues in Civic Visioning: A Town Gown Event | Oct. 22
  Part one of the program will continue the “place making” theme from the previous Town+Gown "Redesigning Neighborhood Change" this past May. The second part will focus on technical solutions in regards to building information modeling and lean construction principles in combination with design-thinking and human centered design.

• Public Art Fund Talks at the New School: Abraham Cruzvillegas | Oct. 22
  As one of Mexico City's most important conceptual artists in his generation, Abraham Cruzvillegas will speak about about his ten-year body of work Autoconstrucción (or “self-building") for his Public Art Fund talk.

• Maker Matters: LEED and Local Sourcing in Construction | Oct. 23
  Craig Graber guides this discussion to explore the benefits and challenges of being a part of the LEED certification process. Panelists include Rob Ferraroni of Ferra Designs; Christian Herrmann of Herrmann Masonry; Tom O'Hara from Capsys Modular Construction; Bradley Samuels of SITU Studio; and Jeffrey Taras of Associated Fabrication.

• Pencil and Brush: Architectural Watercolors – A Lecture with Zega & Dams | Oct. 23
  This special lecture will survey the architecture and garden styles of 17th-19th century Europe, as well as the architectural drawings of Paris-based polymaths Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Dams --  who work as writers, watercolorists, historians, and designers.

• The Art of Dining: How Master Chefs and Designers Collaborate | Oct. 23
  Acclaimed chefs Daniel Boulud and Lydia Shire join well-known hospitality designer Adam Tihany for a conversation about the relationship between design and dining, moderated by Elle Décor's Editor in Chief Michael Boodro. Program is free and open to the public, but reservations are required.

• Night of Impact: Giving back through Architecture & Design | Oct. 24
  Architecture for Humanity New York invites everyone to a kick-off party on the evening before their "2014 Day of Impact". Learn more about the organization and the ways they give back to the communities through architecture and design.

Make sure to check back for week 4 recommendations! Check out Week 1 and Week 2.

For the complete list of events from October 1st through 31st, head over to the Archtober online calendar, like the Facebook page, or follow Archtober on Twitter, YouTube, and its blog.