America\u27s Virtual studio: Analysis, Synthesis and Proposal for develop an interactive multi-user environment

As the title suggests, this paper makes an attempt to provide a factual analysis and synthesis of the activities that the Tex-Mex Virtual Design Studio, and later the Las Americas Virtual Design Studio, have been implementing since September of 1996, The objective of this attempt is to provide a framework for the formulation of a new conceptual and instrumental profile for future implementations of our virtual design studios. With such a purpose the paper outlines the importance of virtual design studios in the framework of opening design education to distance education methodologies and argues in favor of their further utilization for addressing issues of globalization in architecture and design education. This argument is followed by a quick description of current practices within the Las Americas Virtual Design Studio and sets the stage for a detailed description of how multi-user interactive environments may further support interaction within virtual design studios