my vote goes out to yale, princeton & ucla - strictly empirically speaking

princeton's is pretty good

here are some others ive found so far that I like:
http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/
http://www.berlage-institute.nl/
http://www.iaac.net/

It's not loading for me now but I liked Harvard GSD's new (2009) site.

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/

zinkplus, I agree with you completely.

P.S: are you experiencing websites through some method other than human observation?

I like UCLA's format when I have time, although... if I'm actually looking for information it leaves something to be desired.

unfortunately human observation is the only method i have at the moment...

Yes, it seems that many school sites have trouble reconciling regular users who want info and news (students, faculty) and prospective students who seem to like Flashy style and moving amorphous shapes

Michael Bergin

hehe, sorry, my wording was perhaps ill-considered; I meant to make a distinction between how a website actually feels and what it should operate like (ideally) in theory.

also agree with you on your comment about UCLA's website - hence its place at the bottom of my list.