The course approaches the theoretical goal of understanding design intelligence. It focuses on long-standing theoretical and scientific questions concerning creative design, focusing on both design tools and the human capacity for reasoning and learning. Human intelligence stands out because we understand, explain and narrate by composing narratives and because we are able to direct our perceptual abilities, and those of our interlocutors in specific directions, to describe and answer questions about real or imagined situations. Therefore, if we want to develop a theoretical approach to design, we need to cultivate our capacity for explanation, narrative generation and direction of perception. The course examines the multiple processing aspects of creating a narrative such as instructional storytelling, persuasive storytelling, synthesizing a narrative based on data, summarizing, answering questions, attending to culturally based interpretive differences, and multi-level understanding, as well as the technique of directing perception. Teaching Objectives An introduction to the methodologies of theoretical explanation and formulation is given and contemporary ideas about design theory are presented. An infrastructure for personal research theoretical contributions towards the goal of understanding design is thus developed. In addition, the course teaches how to discern the salient ideas in a research paper or design proposal without being distracted by details. The course cultivates the useful skill of discerning the central idea by setting aside minor elements. Finally, the course teaches how to present complex ideas effectively, present a lecture, thesis, or scientific paper at a conference, or even talk to a potential client. Methodology The course is about extracting central ideas from their sources through reflective reading, writing and discussion. Therefore, it can be considered as a special course in the theory of architecture. It also involves presenting the ideas we want to express in a variety of forms, including summaries, conclusions, slides, proposals, reports, letters and conversations. So it can be considered as a special communication course. Finally, the course is about how to strengthen our ideas by adopting a clear method of crystallization and formulation. Therefore, it can also be considered as a special course in cognitive science and psychology. Course obligations Attendance, reading of selected texts and participation in discussion are required. Because of the emphasis on reading and discussion, attendance is mandatory, as is a commitment to reading the texts. Believing that both discussion that extends to complex issues and that which involves analysis of less successful work are educationally useful, some of the selected reading texts may seem complex. One goal of the course is to develop students’ ability to gather useful ideas in any context. About a third of the course is devoted to discussing how to present our ideas orally and in writing. Content The course content is largely based on specially selected writings on design and intelligence, which tend to fall into the following general categories: o Visionary thinking o Strong theoretical ideas o Computational models of perception and knowledge o Neuro-science and human behaviour Form Students read parts or all of a selected published text each week, and its content is discussed in class. Short weekly assignments include either short answers to questions about the week’s text or the preparation of summaries, slide presentations and other forms of communication. Oral questions and discussions take place during the course. Participation in discussion, weekly readings of scientific papers and short weekly assignments are mandatory. A final presentation to the class of a selected design theme (it can be an old design theme of yours) is also mandatory. The short weekly assignments are individual, while the final project can be presented by groups (up to two people). Weekly attendance and participation 30% Short individual weekly assignments 30% Final issue 40% Prerequisites There is no prerequisite knowledge. Fluency in English is not a prerequisite, but it will help since some of the selected texts are in English.