Core Lab Envrionments:
Creative Technology Track

BFA Parsons Design and Technology

Course Notion

This course uses an incremental, embodied learning structure—prioritizing tool fluency early in order to support deeper conceptual and experiential design in later stages.

Designed and piloted the course structure in its first iteration in 2024; the framework continues to be implemented across other sections in subsequent years.

︎ Core Lab Environments S24︎︎︎

︎ Core Lab Environments S25︎︎︎

︎ Core Lab Environments S26︎︎︎

Below information is the documentation of Lab Environment S24

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Embodied Design, Sensory Remapping, Perception, Phenomenology, Intentionality, deconstruct and reconstruct environments

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Technology:
Unity, MadMapper, TouchDesigner, 3D Scanning, Crafting

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Experience Design, Experiential Design, Interaction Design, Environment Design, Installation, XR, AI, 3D design, Projection Mapping, User Experience

Graphic courtesy of Jack Ji S24, Mick Griffin S25, Eason Sun S26, BFA DT

The CT Environments course is intentionally structured as an incremental learning system, designed to balance technical fluency with embodied and experiential understanding.

In the first half of the semester, Projects 1 and 2 focus on tool literacy and foundational skills, particularly in Unity and spatial prototyping. Conceptual themes are introduced lightly during this phase, allowing students to learn through making, experimentation, and workshops without cognitive overload.

This early emphasis on tools is not meant to separate technique from concept, but to ground conceptual thinking in bodily, spatial, and interactive experience. By stabilizing technical confidence first, students are better prepared to engage in deeper conceptual and structural design later in the course.

More significant conceptual development begins in Project 3, where students design spatial structures and environments through intentional experiential frameworks grounded in real-world design considerations. At this stage, the course emphasizes not only conceptual thinking, but also practical approaches to designing user experiences within physical and immersive spaces — including interaction flow, spatial perception, usability, environmental behavior, and experiential impact.

Technical skills function as a support system rather than a barrier, enabling students to translate complex ideas into feasible spatial experiences through space, interaction, and installation design.

S26 Rube Goldberg Machine: Physics, Camera, Audio

Project Galleries

Exercise: Unity Physics, Rube Goldberg Machine

︎ Exercise Brief: Rube Goldberg Machine Course Notion

Mini Project

︎ Mini Project Brief: Course Notion

Create an envionment in Unity using visual elements that consist envirnments including lighting, and audio elements