Environmental Design Studio .
Student Responsibilities

Environmental Design Studio 1 and 2 Syllabus

Syllabus contents

Course Intent

Content and Sequences

Faculty

Student Responsibilities

Grades

Disabilities

Books/Materials

Class Attendance and Conduct
Class meets three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) for three hours each session. Students are expected to be in class on time, to be in class during the entire period, to have the required equipment and supplies, and to be working on their design projects. Class time will be used for design, drawing, model-building, discussions, lectures, desk crits, reviews and other related activities.
Daily attendance will be taken. Students are required to attend class regularly throughout the semester. More than three unexcused absences will affect the final semester grade substantially.
Listening to the radio, tape or CD player or TV during class time is not allowed, simply in consideration of everyone working in the studio. Outside of class time, it is only allowed with headsets. Smoking or chewing tobacco is prohibited by state law in all interior spaces with the exception of designated smoking areas. Design studios offer opportunities to learn professional work habits through the practice of scheduling, time management, and the keeping of orderly records and work spaces. Adherence with the ethic that one should leave the environment in better condition than he or she found it is expected. You are passing through these studios for a short time and need to keep them in good shape for those that will follow you. Studios also provide a context for the development of self criticism and the interchange of ideas among peers.
Student Performance
Criteria for student performance are stated in terms of awareness, understanding, and competence -- levels of ability that students should achieve during their first year of studies.
  • "Awareness" is familiarity with specific information, including facts, definitions, concepts, rules, examples and procedures. Students can recall and correctly associate their knowledge with appropriate circumstances.
  • "Understanding" is the assimilation and comprehension of knowledge. Students can identify implications, can critically assess, can summarize, and can paraphrase their knowledge.
  • "Competency" is skill in interpreting knowledge, in abstracting principles, and relating specific knowledge to other material. Students at this level can appropriately apply knowledge and skills to specific design problems.

While students, for example, are encouraged to explore wide variety of media to represent design ideas and concepts during the first two semesters, after the first year they are expected to have developed:
  • competency in the use of pencil and ink on vellum, board, paper, trace;
  • an understanding of various color media, such as Prisma pencil; and
  • an awareness of reprographic techniques typically used by design professionals.
Cumulative Development
Throughout each semester, new design principles and concepts as well as a variety of skills, techniques will be introduced. Students are expected to understand the new material, and to apply it not only in the current exercise but also in subsequent studio work. Such cumulative development fosters a deepening in the student's understanding of design through the practice of repetition and reflection.
Notebook and Portfolio
Students are expected to keep their course syllabus and project statements in a three-ring binder. Additional handouts and other material relevant to the studio should also be kept in this binder in an organized fashion. This is separate from the sketchbook that each student will be encouraged to keep. A portfolio will be required in which all work should be kept in chronological order.
Environmental Design Studio Edition: 16 August 1999 Questions? Contact: Lynn Ewanow, Associate Dean