This course, a major component in the student's can entail two types of activity: 1. Participation in sophomore, junior or senior level courses to strengthen technical skills and design vocabulary; Including Design for Printed Textiles and Fabric Silkscreen and 2. Individual projects undergraduate advisors to clarify personal concepts and format of the work. This semester's emphasis is on enlarging and solidifying the student's background and defining direction for the work.

This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Choice of advanced design studios offered by the Department of Interior Architecture. Details & studio descriptions are made available to pre-registered students.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies depending on required studio course supplies or related travel. Anticipated costs will be provided in advance, and announced during the lottery studio presentations held in the department.

Major Requirement | BFA, MDes, MA Interior Studies

Climate Studio is a collaborative advanced design studio in which we engage designers and experts from multiple fields to develop innovative climate solutions that can scale.

In Spring 2027, we will focus on water insecurity, a global challenge that’s driven by climate change, population growth, conflict, pollution, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. Working in creative teams, we will design, prototype, and demonstrate a range of atmospheric water generators that use plant-derived biomaterials to capture moisture from low-humidity air and convert it into liquid water. Water insecurity currently affects 2.2 billion people, and meaningful solutions require more than individual designers working in isolation.

Addressing the needs of water-stressed communities requires knowledge and collaboration across many fields, so Climate Studio is also an interdisciplinary studio by design. Architecture students enrolled in a parallel climate studio taught by Jonathan Knowles will work with us throughout the semester. Together, we will explore how atmospheric water generators might be integrated into a variety of constructed environments, including parks, buildings, and infrastructure.

While our studio will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the architecture studio will meet on Mondays and Thursdays. Although the two studios will maintain their separate meeting times on Mondays and Tuesdays, we will share a large studio space and will come together on Thursday afternoons. Material costs should be covered by funding, as in the past, so that out-of-pocket expenses are minimized for students.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

The Fall semester of Junior year represents a crucial pathway out of the sophomore experience and into independent, self-directed work in sculpture. Junior Sculpture Studio, together with Research Studio, is designed to support student’s individual interests and incorporate the multifaceted and highly personalized condition of artistic research with studio methodologies. The semester will consist of two major critique sessions, alongside various demos, assignments, artist talks, and work sessions that direct students’ conversation and growth within the studio. The work sessions will consist of artistic pursuits specific to individual practices, formal small and larger group critiques, and 1 on 1 and small group studio visits with faculty, teaching assistants and peers. The sculpture department’s visiting artist lecture series is a vital component of this course and allows insight into the practices and work of professional artists. Additionally, a curated selection of material, and personally collected archives, digital and physical as well as various forms of media will prompt deeper investigations into artist practice throughout the semester, exploring the very nature of how to explore, research, and investigate the world around you.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

The Fall semester of Junior year represents a crucial pathway out of the sophomore experience and into independent, self-directed work in sculpture. Junior Sculpture Studio, together with Research Studio, is designed to support student’s individual interests and incorporate the multifaceted and highly personalized condition of artistic research with studio methodologies. The semester will consist of two major critique sessions, alongside various demos, assignments, artist talks, and work sessions that direct students’ conversation and growth within the studio. The work sessions will consist of artistic pursuits specific to individual practices, formal small and larger group critiques, and 1 on 1 and small group studio visits with faculty, teaching assistants and peers. The sculpture department’s visiting artist lecture series is a vital component of this course and allows insight into the practices and work of professional artists. Additionally, a curated selection of material, and personally collected archives, digital and physical as well as various forms of media will prompt deeper investigations into artist practice throughout the semester, exploring the very nature of how to explore, research, and investigate the world around you.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Sculpture Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Sculpture

The execution of two assigned design projects provides the framework for a thorough examination of the design process. This structured and intensive studio will focus on the relationship between the implementation of sound design methodologies and successful problem solving in the design process. This first studio experience is intended to provide the methodological infrastructure for the remainder of the M.I.D. thesis experience.

Preference is given to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design

This core studio stresses middle scale landscape architectural design. A series of studio problems will explore urban public spaces. Students will endeavor to represent contemporary cultural and ecological ideas in land form. There will be an emphasis on constructive strategies, the use of plants in design and methods of representation.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Landscape Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MLA-I, MLA-II Landscape Architecture

Settler-colonial and extractive practices in Architecture are underpinned by the methods practiced, and are further modeled and reinforced through the precedents we uphold in the design studio. Directly addressing the racial and economic dimensions of space, materials, and labor, the Advanced Topic Studio will de-center methods of making that perpetuate and normalize extractive practices. Students will interrogate questions of authority and knowledge production beyond institutions in order to challenge solution-based studio formats. The Advanced Topic Studio models alternative practice methodologies emphasizing collective learning and knowledge production, and the ethics of research. 

With a goal to expand upon material histories previously encountered by focusing on historically marginalized cultures, students will be asked to pursue their own material within the course framework to develop deeper analysis and research capacities. Students will question the tools of colonization and extraction in our field, recognize the intersectional overlap between environmental and social justice, explore the potential for collaboration between design and activism, recognize the interconnectedness of systems of power in relation to design processes, explore the potential of design to create equitable and sustainable environments, and apply the knowledge gained to real-world contexts. 

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture

Settler-colonial and extractive practices in Architecture are underpinned by the methods practiced, and are further modeled and reinforced through the precedents we uphold in the design studio. Directly addressing the racial and economic dimensions of space, materials, and labor, the Advanced Topic Studio will de-center methods of making that perpetuate and normalize extractive practices. Students will interrogate questions of authority and knowledge production beyond institutions in order to challenge solution-based studio formats. The Advanced Topic Studio models alternative practice methodologies emphasizing collective learning and knowledge production, and the ethics of research. 

With a goal to expand upon material histories previously encountered by focusing on historically marginalized cultures, students will be asked to pursue their own material within the course framework to develop deeper analysis and research capacities. Students will question the tools of colonization and extraction in our field, recognize the intersectional overlap between environmental and social justice, explore the potential for collaboration between design and activism, recognize the interconnectedness of systems of power in relation to design processes, explore the potential of design to create equitable and sustainable environments, and apply the knowledge gained to real-world contexts. 

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture

Intermediate Film is a year-long course emphasizing technical production in sync sound film making. Theoretical concerns and cinematic techniques are stressed. We explore concepts of (and the relationships between) narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking. During Spring semester, the course is devoted to improving skills in many aspects of live action filmmaking, including conceptualization, budgeting, camera work, and sound recording. Projects are transferred to tape and edited digitally. In addition, there are weekly screenings of works by relevant filmmakers. Participation in class discussions is required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $500.00

Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.

Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video | Live Action

This beginning glass major studio combines studio practice, critical discourse and contemporary issues through assignments, reports, and scheduled critiques. The course develops awareness of three-dimensional issues concerning material, concept, process and light to establish criteria for artistic striving. Students are required to develop the sketchbook as an essential creative tool.

Estimated Materials Cost: $200.00

This course is a requirement for Sophomore Glass students. Non-majors may enroll pending seat availability. Email the Department Head and instructor jointly to request permission.

Major Requirement | BFA Glass

The course is designed as a drawing exploration of the relationships between various drawing media and as an introduction to strategies in developing a flexible dialogue between concept and process. Starting with large collaborative group drawings and responding to a series of visual and media prompts, this course challenges students to reconsider their drawings each week through various studio constraints, whether with different media, temporal, or physical limitations. Students will be guided through a generative production of drawings, which they can apply to their own studio practice in the later weeks.á Rather than starting with an idea, students will practice finding imagery and creating drawings that build on previous drawings. The course demands energy to engage with physically large drawings, a dedicated and consistent work ethic, and an openness to change and invent. Students are expected to work from both observation and imagination, draw in the studio both independently and collaboratively, attend class lectures, and participate in group discussions. Participants should be ready to experiment and be prepared for their work to go through several surprising transformations.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective