Basic Environmental Design III

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Document and analyze organism behavior, habitat, movement, sensory and climatic response, material patterns, and individual/collective relationships through reliable sources, diagrams, and models.
• Translate biological relationships into a human-scale quasi-human client and spatial criteria while applying anthropometrics, ergonomics, inclusive design, accessibility, and human wellbeing evidence.
• Apply an iterative design process that uses inquiry, precedent, programming, multiple alternatives, testing, evaluation, and documented reflection to develop progressively complex solutions.
• Compose two- and three-dimensional spatial sequences through solid/void, positive/negative space, scale, layering, enclosure/exposure, movement, wayfinding, light, and color.
• Develop material and tectonic systems that communicate structure, properties, performance, fabrication, assembly, adaptation, demountability, maintenance, life safety, and environmental impact.
• Analyze natural and downtown sites, programs, and real public users; apply foundational accessibility, circulation, egress, safety, legal, drainage, service, and stewardship criteria to responsible proposals.
• Integrate environmental and wellbeing strategies such as daylight and electric light, color, shade, ventilation, thermal and acoustic awareness, water, energy, planting, waste, material reuse, and life-cycle thinking.
• Interpret research and communicate design intent, alternatives, technical development, and final decisions through writing, drawings, physical and digital models, visualization, verbal critique, and response to feedback.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Phase 1 – Living Organism as Architectural Mentor	10%
Phase 2 – Scalar Translation: The Quasi-Human Client	10%
Phase 3 – Embodied Refuge in Nature	20%
Phase 4 – Liminal Urban Interiority	25%
Phase 5 – The Microtopian Commons	25%
Studio Practice – preparedness/attendance (4%), critique and peer engagement (3%), process archive (3%)	10%
Total	100%

Numerical grades are not rounded automatically. Final grades reflect the evidence submitted and the standards described in the assignment rubrics.

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93–100	A
90–92.99	A−
87–89.99	B+
83–86.99	B
80–82.99	B−
77–79.99	C+
73–76.99	C
70–72.99	C−
67–69.99	D+
63–66.99	D
60–62.99	D−
Below 60	F

Attendance/Participation:

Preparedness and attendance account for 4% of the final grade within Studio Practice. Attendance is recorded each meeting as present/engaged, partial, or absent. Arriving more than 20 minutes late, leaving early without prior communication, or attending without the work needed for studio may be recorded as partial; two partial records equal one absence for this calculation. After two unexcused absences, each additional unexcused absence reduces the preparedness/attendance component by one percentage point, up to the full 4%. Documented circumstances are addressed through the applicable UNCG process and reasonable arrangements with the instructor.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Basic studio supplies: sketchbook, tracing paper, pencils/pens, measuring and cutting tools, metal ruler, adhesives, safety glasses, and basic model-making materials.
• Project-dependent consumables and production materials: printing, presentation boards, model supplies, and optional digital fabrication selected in response to the student's proposal.
• Closed-toe shoes are required for shop work; students need to purchase suitable footwear only if they do not already own it.