Course Overview: Learn what the profession forgets to teach! Design isn't a mystery that only geniuses can intuit. Design principles can be understood by anyone who takes the time to learn them. We don't need to use trial and error indefinitely. We can follow a step-by-step process that explains the rules at every step.

A step-by-step design process provides the necessary context to make decisions. Since each decision responds to context, the end result looks more natural. Stock plans and prefab housing don't adapt to context because they're ready-made products that predetermine everything ahead of time. We can't relate to cookie-cutter repetition, so it feels fake. 

We don't need to use stock plans when we have a local building culture. Breaking the design process into a sequence of steps makes the process more manageable.

• A sequence of steps is a shorthand version of weighted rules. High-priority rules get decided first. An expert architect (or software) can hold all the rules in their head at once, but most of us can't, so we chunk it into steps.

• The rules at each step have to be understood together because that's how we weigh them against each other to determine their priority (because they often conflict). Do we orient a room toward the best view or toward the best sunlight?

• We don't want to lock in a decision that won't work later on, so we use placeholders for early approximations. A 12'x12' room works as a placeholder because it accommodates most furniture layouts, so I don't need to worry about furniture until I get there.