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Second year design studios, Design I and II, will expand on the abstract, compositional exercises from the first year. These exercises were focused on developing simple sequences of spaces in relationship to schematic ideas of context. Design I will focus on a public project at a small scale and with simple program distribution, in the context of actual sites with peculiar topography. One of the main goals of this studio is to help students become critical thinkers and develop the professional skills, cultural tools, and a methodology of work fundamental for an architect. Site is understood simultaneously at different scales and both as a physical entity as well as ephemerally based on user behavior, perception of daylight/wind/seasonal change and viewpoints, to develop a sensitive final solution aware of how it works, and performs. This studio also enables students to read and analyze precedents and design references in order to establish critical connections across these and with the individual design process.