With the development of new digital technologies, we are witnessing an unprecedented erosion of what were our traditional disciplinary boundaries. Desktop and web publishing software has given us access to the means of producing well crafted and thoughtful presentations whether they be pamphlets, books, or traditional presentation boards. This brings with it the need for developing acuity in areas not traditionally considered to lie within our disciplinary boundary, areas like Graphic Design, Cognitive Science, Information Graphics, Knowledge Visualization etc.

Whereas previous courses have helped students to master foundational representation skills allowing them to compellingly represent the nuances of their designs, they have largely understood each drawing or representation as a singular element. The effort of this course is to understand and begin to master the display of multiple forms of information collected together into a cohesive presentation of work that is deployed across multiple formats, using techniques that each student will likely encounter in the course of their professional careers.

The class will investigate the graphic representation of quantitative and qualitative data, helping students learn to gather together meaningful information, graphically document it, and to analyze and understand the implications of their findings as part of a problem finding design process. Additionally, Two-dimensional composition and color theory will be explored by the class while learning the fundamentals of large, and small format presentation media production.

This course endeavors to cover the business of conducting an interior design practice and includes information on how professional firms are organized and administered, strategies for acquiring new clients, methods of project management, agreements and contracts, fees and compensation, ethics, and relationships with consultants and contractors.

This junior-level studio requires students to take anylytical and critical stances before making formal design moves. A series of graphic and diagrammatic exercises precede a larger project that challenges the students' sense of scale and complexity while maintaining principals of design for the human body as learned in earlier studios. Students at this level will be asked to envelope interpersonal activities and exchange in more civic settings than in previous studios. Studio Practice 4 will focus on the verbs comprising these transactions rather than nouns and traditional labels. Traditional typologies will be in question. Scale and complexity will be approached via studies in simple enlargement vs. accumulation and composition of repetitive elements. Cultural context will temper these abstract maneuvers in order to maintain a relevance to contemporary thought. By the end of Studio Practice 4, each student will be an agent of modern culture with a design skillset that will allow them to make innovative and culturally vital, yet logical space.

This studio offers an introduction to the essential properties of a wide range of materials and their dynamic engagement with the material, corporeal and non-physical qualities of space. Via lectures, research, field trips, and studio projects, students will explore the physical properties of numerous materials - in all of their complexities and intersections. In tandem, the students will analyze spatial properties, interior systems and develop an interpretive vocabulary enabling an innovative discourse of spatial and material experiences. Students delve into how spaces, materials, social events and cultural rituals intertwine to form an enriched and informed dialogue. The class acquires the fundamental skills associated with material exploration, model-making and representing spatial ideas with study models. The students will learn that as designers they invest materials and spaces with cultural meaning and the significance of their ability to understand and engage these choices enriches their impact as future designers.