Required for all Architecture, Interior Design, and Architectural Studies majors, this course provides an introduction to the organizational principles and tools designers use to interpret and shape the built environment. Emphasis is placed on providing students with an understanding of the foundational skills and vocabulary necessary to communicate design ideas both visually and verbally. The studio is focused on a series of basic design problems and exercises that allow for exploration, appropriation, and, finally, synthesis of these elements into cohesive design solutions. This will include the gathering of information by various means, analysis, evaluation, and feedback, the organizing of this information into meaningful patterns, and the exercising of judgment in the application of this information to the given problem.