For more than eight years artist Koert van Mensvoort has been working on a project to redefine our concept of nature. Through his platform Next Nature he has published books, held talks, ran workshops, maintained an active blog, and even developed a hoax, all in effort to communicate that there is no absolute nature, but that technology and nature are deeply intertwined; a biosynthetic nature so to speak. Can the development of a Gillette razor be considered in Darwinian terms of evolution? Is the fake nature of an indoor ski slope any less legitimate than the Alps? By fundamentally shifting the way we conceive nature, he believes we will be better able to cope with the oncoming climatic and environmental challenges ahead.

The Third Lisbon Architecture Triennale begins this September in the context of a crisis-filled and uncertain country. In response to this, a concurrent program of innovative small grants projects made a call for proposals last December. The aptly titled "Crisis Buster Grant" for architects has stimulated a wide variety of opportunities for civic engagement, unsolicited urban interventions, and bottom up solutions to crisis in the city of Lisbon.

In a secret location tucked away in Belgium, the latest issue of Volume, 'Everything Under Control', is currently being printed. To celebrate its release we'll be throwing a launch event. Join us at Hotel Droog in Amsterdam on April 3rd from 19:30 onwards to catch a debate with Volume contributor and Next Nature founder, Koert van Mensvoort, followed by a short announcement of the new issue by editor-in-chief, Arjen Oosterman. Copies of the issues will be on sale, and various contributors will be present.

On Thursday 21 March 2013, the teams that have worked under the wings of the Studio for Unsolicited Architecture, Design & E-Culture will present the results of their research at the Netherlands Architecture Institute. The Studio is an experimental project that explores ways in which designers can play a meaningful role in resolving urgent social and design challenges.

Chinese artist Yang Yongliang recently released a new project that will be on view at Galerie Paris-Beijing from from March 14th to April 27th. The impressive collages aim to represent the potentially devastating effects of uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization.

'ENERGY. Oil and Post-Oil Architecture and Grids' is an exhibition that will be on display at MAXXI Architecture in Rome between March 22 and September 29, 2013. Curated by Pippo Ciorra, the exhibition features more than 80 drawings and projects, 3 photographers and 7 international architects that focus on the relationship between architecture and energy.

The Cycle of Japan is an ongoing lecture series at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam that is exploring what the Netherlands can learn from Japanese urban practice. Edwin Gardner kicked off the series with a talk on February 14th. His lecture was a deeply poetic and psychogeographic meditation on the nature of cyclical time in Tokyo, and its effect on the city’s built environment. Edwin Gardner is a theorist, architect and cofounder of Monnik, a Dutch research collective. He was in Tokyo to put together Still City, an alternative guide to the city. There, he met and did workshops with various artists, designers, and other urban explorers during a mentally stimulating and physically exhausting two-month stay.

Two weeks ago, the ARCHIZINES exhibition opened doors at the RMIT Design Hub in Melbourne. ARCHIZINES is one of two inaugural exhibitions on design publishing at the new RMIT Design Hub, designed by Sean Godsell Architects. Both exhibitions will be accompanied by a program of talks, discussions, events and social gatherings. Go check it out!