The program encourages each student to:

• Comprehend the value of a creative engagement with the prevailing realities of the city as a primary means of cultural transformation, and to perceive Portland as an "urban laboratory" for experimental investigations of prevalent human issues.

• Explore the communicative potential of diverse media through continual acts of interpretive making at multiple scales, including full-size construction.

• Take advantage of the special reality of the academic setting in offering opportunity for speculation unavailable in contemporary practice situations, particularly through the Design Thesis experience.

• Develop an understanding of the dynamic relationship of individual and collective experience in urban environments through participation in, and fostering of, communication between citizen and institution in negotiating shared territories.

• Attain a dynamic awareness of the expectations, roles and practices of the contemporary architectural profession coupled with tangible capacities to operate creatively and productively in the field.

• Participate in, and contribute to, the advancement of knowledge in issues and technologies of sustainable living and environmental responsibility.