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Join Our Summer Studio, Starts June 6
Continue your education with the Thrive Summer Studio:
Design Principles Revealed: The Hidden Logic of Architecture
An 88‑hour immersive design studio that teaches the underlying design logic that makes buildings coherent, alive, and timeless.
Starts June 6, 2026 / Space is Limited
Course Brief
This is a three part course, structured to grow from beginner to advanced. Each session builds on the prior session.
Have you ever wondered what makes some architecture and design great? Join us as we lift the veil in this intense, private, hands-on design course in which you’ll learn how to use the same powerful geometric and classical principles that the most famous and remarkable architects and designers in historical and contemporary case studies used to generate new and extraordinary work.
This course bridges timeless design principles with contemporary practice, offering tools that enhance both conceptual clarity and technical execution. Students will produce original design work supported by critique and iterative refinement. Students will leave with a working knowledge of geometric design methods, classical proportion and order systems, and their applications in contemporary practice. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate.
Anyone from any background or skill-level is welcome!
Certificate Learning Objectives
This studio teaches professional competencies essential to contemporary practice, including:
Design thinking and problem solving
Historical and theoretical grounding
Site analysis and contextual design
Communication and visual representation
Ethical clarity and professional judgment
Technical documentation and systems awareness
Project management and collaboration
Awareness of local building codes and regulatory frameworks
Certificate Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate for being able to:
Identify and draw classical orders, anatomical proportions, and sacred geometries using hand tools and observational techniques
Apply and generate architectural compositions and spatial narratives using classical principles and proportioning systems
Analyze and respond to site conditions, environmental factors, and community needs through contextual design thinking
Design and document a new public building, its materiality, ADA compliance, and its’ surrounding landscape using classical logic, zoning awareness, and symbolic anchoring
Integrate color theory and plant selection into landscape compositions with anchoring features
Present and critique design work clearly and ethically in structured studio settings
Collaborate and lead within small teams to manage timelines, refine proposals, and demonstrate holistic thinking in design practice
Instructor
William Ross
AIA, ICAA, Forbes Business Council
Location
Private Design Studio
100 South Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19109
Duration
June 6, 2026 – August 30, 2026
(22, 4-hour sessions meeting for 11 weeks, with a break for the 4th of July weekend.)
Section 1:
Weekend Mornings
Saturdays & Sundays
9am - 1pm
Max Enrollment: 3 Students
Section 2:
Weekend Evenings
Saturdays & Sundays
2pm - 6pm
Max Enrollment: 3 Students
Registration
Is Now Open!
Our mission is to make these valuable courses accessible to everyone.
Regular Tuition
Students can enroll for the full course by 11:59pm June 6, 2026.
$2,167 total tuition
$99 / class
$25 / hour
Early Enrollment
Students who enroll for the full course by 11:59 pm EST on April 1, 2026 receive a
$500 discount
$1,678 total reduced tuition
$76 / class
$19 / hour
Enter Code EARLY to apply this
Third Party Financing
Students may choose to finance tuition through incremental payments using third-party educational financing partners.
Varies by Program
$2,167 + third party charges
$99 / class + third party fees
$25 / hour + third party fees
Financing Partners will facilitate this
Flourish Foundation Scholarship
Thanks to a generous donor
Flourish Foundation will offer a scholarship that covers 100% of course tuition
for up to two students.
Full Scholarship Merit Award
Criteria
Recipients: Maximum of 2 students
Deadline: May 1, 2026 11:59pm EST
Recipients announced: May 15, 2026
Application: Flourish Foundation Scholarship applicants will need to provide a simple application, which includes basic personal information, a short 850-or-less word essay, and a sample of a specific work or portfolio project they believe is relevant for consideration.
Flourish Foundation reserves the right to award as many or as few applicants as it chooses.
Prompts
Essay Prompt
(Required) Describe a building or place you encountered in real life that taught you something about design that you couldn’t have learned from a book or lecture. What did you learn? (Max 5,100 characters, approx. 850 words)
Work Sample Prompt
(Required) Please share one original project you created unaided (real or imagined) that demonstrates your architectural thinking, spatial reasoning, and design logic as applied to the built environment at a variety of scales. Upload a single PDF (max 10MB).
* Note: All tuition is due upon enrollment and is non-refundable. We understand that life circumstances change, if you sign up and then can't attend, the tuition you paid will apply to any course you start to take with us within 365 days of your intended time of attendance. You will need to notify us of your inability to attend no later than June 1, 2026.
Class Calendar
Classes run from June 6 - August 30 on Saturdays & Sundays.
There is no class July 4th and 5th for the Fourth of July weekend.
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