Bases of Design. Morning

Professors

Daniel García-Escudero [R] Berta Bardí Milà  [R]
Guillem Bigas Comas                  Francesc Camps Palou            Cecilia de Marinis                      Relja Ferusuc Manusv          Adrià Orriols Camps                Jaume Prat Ortells              Gerard Puig Freixas             Cecília Rodríguez Vielba           Eva Serrats Luyts                 Matías Ivan Vinet Melo        

A-23, A-24, A-32, A-33, A-34,      A-35

Introduction 

Habitable Geometries. Foundations for Architectural Design I–II is an introductory architectural design course aimed at first-year students, framed within the propaedeutic module of the Degree in Architecture Studies at ETSAB. Its fundamental objective is to develop, through active knowledge and reflective practice, an operative foundation for understanding and transforming habitable space. The course approaches architecture as a complex system of relationships between form, use, place, and technique, and proposes a progressive journey that moves from abstract formal structures towards domestic and site-specific spatial configurations.

The guiding thread of the 2025–2027 course is geometry as a mechanism of order and a framework for design. Understood not as an aesthetic end in itself, but as a field of operations and possibilities, geometry makes it possible to establish rules, patterns, and systems that guide the organisation of space. Building on this common ground, the course unfolds over two complementary semesters: the first focuses on series as a primarily linear and rhythmic form of order, while the second explores grids and networks as spatial and relational structures operating in two or three directions. Both structures are approached as forms of order capable of generating variation, activating processes, and constructing habitable spaces at any scale, particularly within the realm of housing.

The course proposes exercises based on the repetition, variation, and combination of elementary forms. This process allows students to explore aspects such as solid and void, tectonic and stereotomic approaches, the relationship between walls and columns, and the notion of the system as a framework for served and servant spaces. Historical and contemporary references are incorporated —from the multi-bay house to shared housing and houses without corridors—, while cases such as the long house, the one-room house, and the enfilade are studied as spatial structures. Through this process, students will learn to recognise architecture as an exercise in composition and construction, capable of responding to real conditions of use, place, and technique.

Within this framework, geometry becomes the guiding thread of the design process: it is neither an ornamental resource nor a form of knowledge external to architectural design, but rather the common ground where order and invention meet. As a universal language, it establishes correspondences between form and structure, between measurement and perception, and between abstraction and experience. Geometry connects the simple with the complex, and the singular with the collective.

Program