With a belief that students learn best when feel they are actively working on real life problems Jade Polizzi’s teaching is primarily about service learning. An alumnus of the Environmental Design Program, Jade has been teaching in the Environmental Design Program since 2002. Before attending graduate school Jade served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member where she had the job of assistant project manager with Habitat for Humanity, it was then that Jade discovered her talent for teaching and her dedication to affordable housing. Jade’s devotion is running design-build classes where she teaches students to produce projects that provide a need to a local or regional community partner. Jade’s research is focused on building tectonics and student confidence.
ARCH 3100 - Studio 2: Intermediate Architecture
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2023
Emphasizes the interaction of form, programmatic use, human behavior and context in creating structure. May include a client-based community engaged project, real world applications, and result in a physical product. Students work across analog and digital platforms to produce designs that provide solutions to contemporary challenges. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 3114.
ARCH 4100 - Studio 3: Capstone in Architecture
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2022 / Spring 2025
Engages students in complex design challenges such as integrating building technology, structural systems, user experiences, and environmental sustainability. Students will focus on contemporary architectural issues within the profession and produce design proposals that address key topics such as climate-resilient, human-centric, and systematically responsive design solutions. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 4115.
ENVD 1002 - Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023
Introduces technological competencies to support studio work including design representation and presentation. Students develop fundamental competencies in sketching, graphic design, file management and 3D modeling. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design is a 16-week class that is taught alongside the following two 8-week studios. ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design, taken the first half of the semester, followed by ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, taken in the second half of the semester.
ENVD 1010 - Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2024
Introduces students to concepts and techniques related to the design of products at a human scale. In an immersive project-based studio environment students develop the foundation of design communication and thinking through a series of hands-on projects with physical outcomes. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design is taken the first 7-weeks of the semester, followed by ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, taken in the second 7-weeks of the semester, along with ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design, a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 1020 - Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019
Introduces students to strategies and techniques of architectural design and communication in a hands-on studio environment. Students explore architectural form-making and design opportunities through an iterative design process culminating with a small-scale architectural project that responds to environmental, contextual and programmatic needs. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, an 7-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design, taken during the first 7-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design is a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 1024 - History of the Built Environment
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024 / Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
Fosters an appreciation for the designed environment by exploring historical contexts that have shaped our built environment. Students gain insight into how design themes have emerged in response to significant historical movements. Covering a diverse range of topics, this course examines everything from small objects to iconic buildings, significant landscapes, gardens, and urban spaces. Through this exploration, students develop an understanding of how the built environment influences and reflects societal values throughout history.
ENVD 1052 - Design and Communication 1
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Using both lectures and drawing exercises, this class extends understandings of the representational conventions used by the design professions through its introduction to the possibilities offered by emerging digital techniques for the depiction of designed artifacts and environments, allowing students to extend and enhance their understandings of advanced practices for design visualization, representation and communication. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1004 and ENVD 2001.
ENVD 1102 - Design and Communication 2
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Using both lectures and drawing exercises, this class extends understandings of the representational conventions used by the design professions through its introduction to the possibilities offered by traditional techniques for the advanced practices for design visualization, representation, and communication. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1104 and ENVD 2003.
ENVD 1104 - Introduction to Environmental Design Methods
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Explores the forces and conditions that interact to shape the designed environment. It does so through a lecture sequence and parallel set of design exercises introducing students to the theory and practice of environmental design. It develops student understandings of the central role design thinking plays as the unique process used to effect appropriate change in the designed environment. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1102 and ENVD 2003.
ENVD 1120 - Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 2
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2020 / Fall 2022
Explores the core principles shared across environmental design disciplines, including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Product Design, and Sustainable Planning and Urban Design. Through a multidisciplinary studio approach, students engage in spatial problem-solving, sustainable design strategies, peer-to-peer collaboration, and design thinking. Hands-on projects challenge students to apply foundational tools and methods to real-world challenges, considering social, environmental, and cultural impacts in both built and natural environments. The course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1120, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Design 2, a 7-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1110, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 1, taken during the first 7-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1022, Technology 3: Intermediate Applications for Environmental Design, a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 3100 - ENVD Interdisciplinary Design Studio
Primary Instructor
-
Summer 2022
Explores a sequence of investigations that lead to the development of design concepts for critical evaluation and discussion. Students analyze intermediate to advanced design practices that are common to the disciplines of architecture, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and product design through an interdisciplinary design project.
ENVD 3200 - Advanced ENVD Studio
Primary Instructor
-
Summer 2019
Design studio dealing with problems at an intermediate level of complexity: emphasis is on the interaction of form, use, and multiple values and technologies in conjunction with issues and techniques drawn from other content area courses of the curriculum. May be repeated up to 18 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: ENVD 2130.
ENVD 3212 - Color Theory
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2024 / Fall 2025
Develops visual awareness and technical knowledge while exploring the significance of color in the design world. Color plays a crucial psychological role, evoking emotions and influencing behavior, making it essential for designers to use color intentionally and thoughtfully. Through hands-on activities, we examine contemporary uses of color and patterns, learning how to achieve color harmony in design.
ENVD 4100 - Advanced Design Lab 1
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Design lab exploring new and emerging themes in design. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
ENVD 4979 - Honors Thesis
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2022
Working with an advisor, students prepare, complete, and defend a research-based honors thesis project, in an area of Environmental Design. May be repeated up to 3 total credit hours.
