Matt,
Surely dealing with conflicting personalities/approaches/objectives is a critical part of design. But I am with you, sitting alone with our thoughts is a beautiful thing, and you sure need to be able to do that well after you get out of school…go back to your hovel and noodle through the muck of issues that the land and people have presented. As a student and in my studios (undergrads only at this point) I like to do site analyses in groups, then break. I had a horrible studio in graduate school where the professors grouped, ungrouped, then re-grouped us throughout the semester. Painful. Of course, occassionally a group will click and do great work, and for that we all can be thankful. Maybe you can make the case that some students, due to personality, are short-changed by the group process..maybe they are shy, polite, or not yet confident in their skills, and they then take on the role of executor of the domineering personalities. Then again, if you want to really make the studio feel real…get some engineers, city administrators and artists to collaborate with. That will simulate a good, divergent-interest design process.
