Overview

The Foundation program aims at creating an open multidisciplinary platform that serves all design disciplines. The series of courses enrich the student’s design culture through a number of design modules that cover visual perception and plastic modeling.

Mission

The mission of the Foundation program is to offer students in the design fields a comprehensive educational platform based on the principles of liberal education, fostering the development of creativity through an initiation into critical thinking, aesthetic judgment, and technical knowledge.

Note: This program is common to all Design Majors (Architecture, Interior Design, Interior Architecture, Fashion Design and Graphic Design) and must be completed in the first year of enrollment

Program Objectives

The Foundation program aims to create an open multidisciplinary platform that serves all design disciplines and enriches the student’s design culture through a number of design modules that cover visual perception and plastic modeling, in addition to technical support courses, art electives and liberal arts requirements. The Foundation program thus offers a comprehensive introduction to design, providing students with a broad outlook on design as a creative activity neither limited to nor separated by disciplinary boundaries.

Program Outcomes

By the end of the Foundation sequence students will have acquired the following skills:

1. Ability to conceptualize and to analyze;
2. Enhanced visual representational and interpretational skills;
3. Critical aptitude;
4. Understanding of Computer Fabrication Interfaces;
5. Basic shop skills (metal and wood);
6. Knowledge of computer graphics and digital media; and
7. Understanding of cultural and aesthetic dimension of design.

Requirements

A total of 25 credits are required to complete the foundation year sequence.

Major Core Requirements (25 credits):

• ART221 / Drawing I (3 cr.)
• FND231 / Design Studio I-A (3 cr.)
• FND232 / Design Studio I-B (3 cr.)
• FND235 / Shop Techniques (1 cr.)
• FND236 / Design Studio II (6 cr.)
• FND251 / Digital Media (3 cr.)
• FND261 / Design Culture (3 cr.)
• PHO211 / Photography I (3 cr.)

Sample Study Plan

Fall (16 credits)

• ART221 / Drawing I (3 cr.)
• FND231 / Design Studio I-A (3 cr.)
• FND232 / Design Studio I-B (3 cr.)
• FND235 / Shop Techniques (1 cr.)
• FND251 / Digital Media (3 cr.)
• LAC (3 cr.)

Spring (15 credits)

• FND236 / Design Studio II (6 cr.)
• FND261 / Design Culture (3 cr.)
• PHO211 / Photography I (3 cr.)
• LAC (3 cr.)