This course provides a general introduction to visual culture as a formal language with which social, cultural, political, and spiritual meanings are developed and communicated through visual means. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of contemporary design as an intentional process and actor in the creation of culture via images, artifacts and environments. We will explore the implications and opportunities of visual representation across a range of scales (from the image and object to the patterns of the built environment) and draw from a variety of disciplines (design, architecture, art, anthropology, business, science) to link concepts of image-making, perception, identity, and humanity at large. Students will gain an ability to read the visual world with greater sensitivity; and develop a broad understanding of the power of visual images and how they operate within built and virtual environments. This course is open to all students, but cannot be applied towards the 12 credit hours of electives in the undergraduate architecture degree.