Environmental Design Electives

The courses below can fulfill the"ENVD Elective" requirements on your curriculum guides, which can be downloaded for your convenience. For more information about the courses listed below, you can visit and search the class you want to learn more about, and find the specific term in which the course is offered.

Below is a list of pre-approved ENVD-specific electives. Please contact your advisor with any questions or concerns.

ENVD Electives-Spring 2027

This introductory course introduces students to BIM modeling through the Revit platform. Fundamental skills will be taught to help students understand technical and practical aspects of this software to both support academic projects and gain early exposure to expectations in professional practice. Emphasis throughout the course will be placed on the most successful ways to utilize this powerful program whether in early design stages or later stage production. This course is not intended to evaluate design skills but advance knowledge of the presented software.

In this course, students weave together digital tools used in the landscape design and city planning profession into a cohesive project. Emphasis is on the exploration of design, 3D modeling, analysis, and how to use and present data. Tools covered include ArcGIS (mapping), Microsoft Excel (data analysis), InDesign (layout), and SketchUp (3D modeling). This self-paced, asynchronous class will be taught through a combination of pre-recorded tutorials and virtual class sessions for collaboration and discussion.

This course is an interdisciplinary design-build domestic-intensive studio. We will partner with The Bluff Workshop in Bluff, Utah, an educational design-build hub. This course will focus on food and the communal act of cooking and dining and its power to build relationships while providing sustenance. This is a design-build studio, and the final product will be a fully functioning cooking and dining related structure. *Travel and construction to Utah from May 3rdto May 11this mandatory for class enrollment.

EPOP Design-Build:
You've probably heard of the EPOP Shop. But here's the thing: our pop-up shop doesn't actually pop up. We want to activate more often, and to do that, the shop needs a redesign.
In this studio, you'll redesign the EPOP Shop structure so it's easy to set up, easy to take down, and works better for the people using it. Your design won't stay on paper. It will be built and used at Pearl Street markets and during the Sundance Film Festival.
It's a real client, a real build, and a real portfolio piece.

Teaches the student fundamental to intermediate skills and design practices around 3d modeling using Rhino 3d software. 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface or object (either inanimate or living) via specialized software that can be used for representation, calculations, fabrication, visualization etc.. Learning strategies around how to see your world in “3d models” and learning when/how/where to use these techniques will make students confident designers and marketable.

Please contact Nate Jones for more information and to register.

The course is an exploration of topics related to graphic design and visual communication as they relate to constructing your own professional identity. Topics will include layout, composition, fonts, color theory, printing, publication and web-based presence. We will work on visual communication strategies to develop graphically compelling and clear portfolios in both web-based and print formats for use in applications for graduate school and professional practice. A comprehensive and fluid approach to the use of the Adobe Creative Suite for all design tasks will be stressed.

  • Comprehend the fundamentals of graphic design and their application in visual communication.
  • Be able to speak about visual communication in your own language and evaluate critically the visual design surrounding us.
  • Construct a comprehensive personal and professional identity through print and digital mediums.
  • Be able to synthesize the inherent strengths of various different software tools into a fluid digital design process.

Teaches the student basic to intermediate concepts, strategies, materialities and lots of other interesting things around the topic of digital design and fabrication. In the last decade or so, DD+F (Digifab) has evolved from a novel, boutique approach towards design to a critical component of design + making, especially in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Product design. Students will use 3d modeling (Rhino) and parametric plugins ( i.e. Grasshopper) to investigate new ways of making using 3d printing, CNC machining, laser cutting and other digital fabrication processes. Learning strategies and concepts around DigiFab as well as looking at materiality in digifab and learning when/how/where to use these techniques, will make students confident designers and marketable.

A seminar providing students with a descriptive knowledge and analytical understanding of the use and development of residential settings in different political economies, globally divided into advanced capitalist nations, collectivist economies, and the third world.

Addresses variable topics in the relationship of human experience and behavior to the built environment, e.g., social research methods in environmental design.

Spring 2027 (16 week)TTH 2:00pm-3:15pm

Environmental Negotiation:
Conflicts demand more than good intentions—they require effective negotiation and communication. This hands-on course explores how governments, businesses, communities, and advocates navigate competing interests in environmental policy and development. Through real-world case studies, interactive negotiations, and practical exercises, students build skills in strategic communication, persuasion, conflict resolution, and consensus-building. Learn how to bridge divides, influence decisions, and turn environmental disputes into opportunities for collaborative solutions. (Enrollment is open to ENVD and COMM majors. Non-Environmental Design students must submit an Intent to Enroll Form: , which will become available when spring registration opens.)

Includes such topics as appropriate technology, public policy and natural hazards, organization of the designing and building process, and physical elements of urban development.

Spring 2027 (7-week: Session 1)TTH 3:30pm-6:00pm

Access in Motion: Assessing the Sundance Transport Options:
This course will introduce key concepts on neurodiversity as it relates to the design of products and the built environment. "Neurodiversity" encompasses the broad spectrum of normal human variations in cognition, emotion, and sensory processing. Students will create fidget designs aimed at enhancing emotional well-being by encouraging soothing, self-stimulatory behaviors, known as "stims." They will then design and evaluate new fidget prototypes created using digital fabrication methods such as 3D printing and CNC milling. 

Please contact Nate Jones (nathan.p.jones@colorado.edu) for more information and to register.

Please contact Nate Jones (nathan.p.jones@colorado.edu) for more information and to register.​

Rotating ENVD Electives-Not offered in Spring 2027

Focuses on construction and use of computer-based information systems to represent and manipulate geographic data. Emphasizes the recording, mapping, and transforming of data for analysis and use by planners.

Illustrates color media techniques for the preparation, composition, and presentation of landscape and built environment drawings.

Our charge: With roughly two-thirds of the global population expected to live in urban areas by 2030, the sustainability of the infrastructure required to serve those residents will become paramount. For decades, using the term `infrastructure¿ conjures up boring images of water sanitation projects, bridges, and roads¿domains left mostly to civil engineers and urban planners. But this landscape is quickly changing. Advancements in technology and an imperative for climate resilience are prompting a new generation of urban infrastructure¿all aimed to allow residents to access the goods and services they demand on a daily basis¿in ways that support the sustainability of the planet.

Enrollment is open to all majors. Non-Environmental Design students must submit an Intent to Enroll Form:

Explores how projects are conceived, designed, documented, and built. Students will examine the complexities of the design and construction process, including industry standards, project delivery methods, and practice management. Emphasizing problem-solving and real-world applications, the course prepares students to navigate the challenges of translating ideas into built environments.

This 7-week course focuses on the training and practice of visual sensitivity in the freehand graphic technique including composition, freehand sketch, and color application to improve the skill of design and to achieve the graphic presentation effectively. This course will help students to develop skills and understanding with 1) the pencil sketch, 2) the freehand drawing with pen, 3) pastel, 4) the introduction of Chinese painting, 5) watercolor, and 6) watercolor rendering. The objectives of this course are to improve composition capability and artistic/color appreciation, develop a variety of skills in different mediums, and generate attractive work to support the student portfolio.

Provides an advanced seminar on history and historiography of environmental design, e.g., American dwellings.

Provides an advanced seminar on new technologies and issues of professional practice in the environmental design professions.

Provides an advanced seminar on theory and criticism in environmental design.

Approved Electives from other Disciplines

Below is a list of approved outside courses that can be used for an ENVD elective. Please consult with an ENVD academic advisor for enrollment instructions for AREN & ATLS courses.

Approved non-ENVD courses for ENVD elective requirement

ENVD students must complete this enrollment request form:

Please consult with an ENVD academic advisor for enrollment instructions.

Please visit classes.colorado.edu to search forthe class you want to learn more about and find the specific term in which the course is offered.

Please consult with an ENVD academic advisor for enrollment instructions.

Please visit classes.colorado.edu to search forthe class you want to learn more about and find the specific term in which the course is offered.

Please visit classes.colorado.edu to search forthe class you want to learn more about and find the specific term in which the course is offered.