Aaron Neal

The ability to present one?s work clearly and effectively is a critical skill for designers. In this course each student will focus on advancing the design (layout, graphics, narratives, flow) of their portfolio so that it best conveys their individual design skills, experience and interests. Students will produce materials appropriate for delivery of their work across multiple formats (print, digital, web, etc.), will learn how to edit/arrange their materials to suit the specific context of application, and will create consistent design elements that can be shared across the full range of professional materials from portfolio, to website, to business cards and other promotional materials. Course lectures, exercises, and assignments are enhanced by presentations by professionals. Readings will vary but typically include graphic design and layout approaches by scholars including Ellen Lupton and Kevin Henry. Skype presentations by art and design professionals have included Jill Singer of Sight Unseen, Nick Ozemba of In Common With, and Jean Lee and Dylan Davis of Ladies & Gentleman Studio. The course work will include the development of both print and digital portfolio materials including a resume, sample cover letter, business card, digital portfolio and website.

The Introductory studio in the accredited professional graduate degree addresses the relationship between natural and cultural ecologies and the notion of site as contextual generators of architectural ideas. Including ideas about co-existence, thresholds, material flows and urban-rural bio-regions and systems. Course Goals and Objectives include the role that site and context play in contemporary architectural design, understanding design processes, developing basic design methods, conceptual experimentation and rigor. The studio requires the conceptual design of a small architectural intervention within a complex site and an intermediate level of visual and architectural analysis and representation through diagrams, plans, sections, elevations and physical and digital models. Student performance criteria (SPC) that address the most recent National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) requirements will be highlighted and form part of the coursework outcomes. Readings, textual and visual case studies and site visits will vary, but always provide the background and theoretical grounding for the site and project analysis and final project development and representation. Project work is a cumulative archive of the process of problem analysis and design exploration that are translations of observations, facts and ideas ? all being made visible through diagrams, drawings and models. Parts of the semesters work will be conducted in groups and which will contribute to individual project work presented in a final critique.