"The Politics of Parametricism" conference at LA's Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) from Nov. 15-16 explores the vast complexities of Parametrics, the evolving design paradigm described as becoming the "avant-garde in architecture and design" and "the next 'grand style' of architectural movements." — bustler.net

Following the call for proposals for the recent 2x8 Exhibition Design Competition, the AIA Los Angeles chapter has announced "Cellular Complexity," a project by UCLA lecturer Julia Körner in collaboration with Marie Boltenstern and Kais Al-Rawi, as the winning entry. The Installation will be completed by February 2014, just in time for the 11-year anniversary of the annual 2x8 exhibit. — bustler.net

Smart city infrastructure can augment the ability of managers, planners, designers and engineers to define and implement a fundamentally better next generation of buildings, cities, regions — right? Maybe. For that to be a serious proposition, it’s going to have to be normal for planners and designers not only to collaborate productively with engineers, but to do so with the full and competent participation of the only people they mistrust more than each other ... customers. — Places Journal

Over at the LA Times, Christopher Hawthorne reported on LACMA Director Michael Govan’s plan’s for $650-million new building by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor...Eric Chavkin commented "New construction has always been fundraising tail that wags the museum dog. Big names to draw bigger money...Now that AMPAS is leveraging it's Oscar prestige to be a part of LACMA, a new name to entice donor dollars is Zumthor, a name that means absolutely nothing to most.

In October of last year, we reported that the parametric design concept Cast Thicket had been selected as the winning entry of APPLIED: Research Through Fabrication competition. Over the past 4 months, the winning designers Christine Yogiaman and Ken Tracy have further developed their proposal in collaboration with TEX-FAB, and now Cast Thicket is complete and installed in the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture Gallery. — bustler.net

KREOD, a portable wooden structure revealed in London last September, has recently been recognized with a Surface Design Award for Temporary Structure. — bustler.net

Three winning entries [...] have recently emerged from the IIT Innovation Center Parametric Student Design Competition, held at Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture under the guidance of professors Alphonso Peluso & John Manaves.

The brief was based on the school's recently announced plan to build a new ‘Innovation Center,’ a proposed hub for interdisciplinary education and an incubator for idea exchange between faculty, students, business and industry. — bustler.net

In mid-June, we published the first round finalists of the TEX-FAB APPLIED: Research through Fabrication competition, and today it was announced that the overall winner was the entry CAST THICKET by Christine Yogiaman and Ken Tracy. The jury, consisting of Nader Tehrani, Andrew Kudless, Branko Kolarevic, and Vlad Tenu, selected the winning project from the four finalists. CAST THICKET will now be built for the next TEX-FAB Event in Dallas next Spring, 2013. — bustler.net

Brooklyn-based design studio and research collective Studio Mode/modeLab has sent us plenty of photos from the recent two-day workshop PATTERNING LAB: Parametric Patterns and Digital Fabrication which took place on August 18-19 in Brooklyn, NY. PATTERNING LAB focused on the topic of Parametric Patterns with Grasshopper for Rhinoceros. — bustler.net

Four projects have today been announced as First Round Finalists in TEX-FAB Digital Fabrication Alliance’s 2012 international competition, APPLIED Research Through Fabrication. — bustler.net