A SAMPLE SYLLABUS

In order to assist schools requiring a syllabus from another institution a student wishes to attend, we have developed the following outline of our semester program. The courses described below are not taught as separate units but instead are threads that run throughout the semester, weaving a complex, integrated and diverse program. This syllabus is approved for credit from Prescott College, and students who choose this option should use these narratives as course descriptions for their contracts with Prescott College. We will assist you in completing your credit documents upon your arrival in Prescott.

• EXPLORATION OF ECOLOGICAL AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
  This course covers a wide spectrum of design disciplines and explores ways in which the designer contributes toward a more sustainable approach to products, places and architecture. Through a series of field trips, research projects and design exercises the student will learn basic skills in a variety of design media from graphic design to architecture and from landscape design to city planning. At the conclusion of this course the student will have a sound understanding of the many paths to a design career and the critical role the designer plays in ensuring a sustainable future. The student will also have the opportunity to develop a design portfolio of work that may be useful in pursuing a career in sustainable design. 
  
  
• HISTORY OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
  This course fosters, through field trips, lectures, research projects and readings, an understanding of the ubiquity of sustainable design throughout history. The student will also examine the present approach to the development of our habitats to contrast and compare two very different world views. The result of this course will be an understanding of ways in which the current environmental challenges may be solved through a rediscovery of traditional wisdom.
  
  
• ETHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF DESIGN
  This course focuses on the ethical implications of design and how design is related to individual and community well-being. The student will link design to human psychology by exploring the historical impacts of design manifestos from Palladio to the Bauhaus. While working on a series of design exercises aimed at exploring the aesthetic, the student will also examine the ethical responsibilities of the designer and how this relates to the design projects the student undertakes. The outcome of this course is a new awareness of the ethical framework on which to base an ecological design theory.

• THE URBAN DILEMMA
  The world’s population, now at six billion, is estimated to grow another six to ten billion in the next decade. With the environment already stressed and a number of pathologies appearing, both human and ecological, the criticality of the city in housing populations is self-evident. The dilemma of our current cities is their inadequate fit within the resources of the earth. This course examines the development of the modern city and proposals for transforming it into an ecologically sound habitat. The student will have a basic understanding of the complications inherent in transforming the current system and potential ways that it can be reformed or transformed.
  
  
• DESIGN PRACTIUM
  Throughout the semester the student will learn design by completing projects for clients interested in exploring sustainable and green design. The student works both individually and in team situations as a means of integrating and exploring a systems approach to the design brief. In addition to completing drawings the student is expected to learn how to interact with clients, develop budgets and life cycle cost assessments and create outline specifications. The student is expected to incorporate all the techniques and technologies of “green” design into his or her  projects as a demonstration of his or her understanding of methods for lowering the impact of human artifacts. These designs are also intended to bring sustainable design into a “real world” context and vary from small houses to larger commercial projects.