The objective of this course is to promote the basic understanding and the development of prime design ideas. In practical terms, the first part of the course will deal with a series of independent studies addressing formal values, functional requirements, and materialization constraints. Despite its apparent fragmentation, these studies will allow us to place our particular attention on the development of a visual vocabulary, the management of programmatic requirements, and the conceptualization of material concerns, but always making reference to a global architectural framework. The second part of the course will deal with a single subject of design in which the students are expected to produce an architectural solution that addresses the synthesis of all three fundamental concerns. Special attention will be placed on the solution of inter-relations among them; here the generation of the prime design "idea" will be highlighted and will play a decisive role as point of departure and integrator of the different design decisions.

At a fundamental level the course has the objective of enabling students to develop computer-based processes within their design processes. At the end of the semester students will be expected to have the ability to use, with a basic level of proficiency, all major software typologies within the application domain of Environmental Design.