Design & Visualization

This study area encompasses required studios, elective advanced studios, and courses that concentrate on design logic and skills and that support design thinking and representation.

For the M.Arch. I program, required courses in this study area include a core sequence of four design studios, the first-year building project, two advanced studios, a course in formal analysis (1018a), and a four-stage sequence of courses that deal specifically with visualization methodologies. The core studio sequence progresses from spatially abstract exercises to more complex programs that require integrative thinking at various scales and situated on sites of increased complexity, while integrating ecological, landscape, and tectonic demands. In all four stages of the visualization sequence, hand, digital, 2D, and 3D methods are explored. The first course (1001c) of this visualization sequence is a summer course required for entering students who have not had significant prior architectural training. The next three courses (1015a, 1016b, and 1017c)—in the fall, spring, and early summer of the first year—are required of all M.Arch. I students.

For the M.Arch. II program, required courses in this study area include a core design studio (1061a), three advanced studios, and a course in computation analysis and fabrication (1062a).