It is specifically grounded in the following propositions:

- That the making of architecture is a sensible technical and aesthetic activity that serves the needs of human shelter.

- That the construction of shelter is an imaginative cultural research that seeks to establish dwelling as a proper human aspiration to a graceful life.

- That this educational and professional pursuit must be inflected by the identity of the Sonoran Desert, the geography of Arizona and the culture of the Southwest -- promoting an intertwined land ethic ~ aesthetic research binary.

- That in a modern age of increased cultural exchange this education must become a portable global sensibility; however, its practice must be observant of local traditions, tempered by material circumstances, and expressive of the ethos of time and place.