To build on Earth, we must first understand the laws of nature. These can be expressed into a few fundamental sciences: physics, chemistry, and biology. However, they must be studied through their effects on the built environment.
Water infiltration, mold in walls, stuffy spaces or rooms where you constantly feel a draft, cold interiors, noisy environments or spaces where, for inexplicable reasons, you just don’t feel comfortable and feel like leaving them rapidly; they are human pathologies caused by design, construction, or operational defects in buildings.

Cezar Radu, the late professor of aesthetics whose student I was honored to be, once said "where there are many people, there is also agglomeration". And, I would add, no matter how big the crowd becomes, in the process of designing and constructing a building, no matter how much attention is given, someone still makes a mistake: errare humanum est.

This course is organized in partnership with specialized companies and is not intended exclusively for architects but for all those involved in the process of constructing a building—designers, contractors, system manufacturers, students in technical faculties, and anyone curious to learn something new.
And a fun fact: we've been talking about curtain walls for about 50 years, but they are actually much older. Join the course, and I'll share more fascinating insights about these façade systems!

All living beings build their homes, some more spectacular than others. Studying them can be both fascinating and valuable for professionals. Designing and constructing in harmony with nature—and actively integrating it into the design process—opens the door to a deeper understanding of building physics principles, which are essential for sustainable and efficient architecture.

The essential condition for designing a building to ensure efficient energy consumption is the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration from the concept phase. Thus, the two design strategies—passive and active—will combine and intertwine, leading to the desired outcome for everyone, including lower energy consumption.

Joinery is not just about the profile; it is the combination of profile and glazing. The window and door schedule is the tool by which the profiles and glass are transformed into windows and doors. While the manufacturing of joinery is not within our scope, the way these subassemblies are integrated into the building certainly is!

What types of joinery exist, where are they used, and sometimes, why? What design measures need to be taken to ensure efficient joinery? What do we do with old joinery?
A multitude of questions that can find their answers by attending the Course of Doors and Windows in Architecture.

The wide variety of construction materials, building systems, and requirements that must be met make roofing systems on framings a challenging topic in the design process. Errors—whether in design, execution, or maintenance—can lead to severe pathologies that are difficult, sometimes even impossible, to fix.
This is why understanding this subject requires prior knowledge of thermal-hygrothermal and acoustic principles, fire safety, and building ventilation strategies.

As in most cases complex roofing systems – thermal-waterproofing roofing systems – are usually flat systems, with small slopes, they are usually not visible from the street level (unless the street is in the mountains or if we are standing somewhere above the roofs and see... from above the exhibition of terraces, more beautiful or uglier, depending on luck). That is why they have also been – very suggestively – called “the fifth facade of the building”.

Whether on façades, ceilings, or floors, behind the finish lies an entire hidden "factory" working to ensure an efficient response to various performance requirements.
When it comes to façades—whether old or new—they are part of the building’s vertical envelope. They cannot be considered in isolation but rather in context, from one side of the exterior wall to the other, taking into account external environmental factors and the performance levels required by the interior space.

So much can be said about glass! From the romanticism of the legends surrounding its discovery some 5.000 years ago to the anecdote of how float glass technology was invented; from the fabulous Lycurg Cup, crafted with dichroic glass (yes… that wasn’t a modern invention either; its manufacture goes back to around 400 AD), now displayed at the British Museum, to the exquisite jewelry of Ancient Egypt, from the intricate stained glass windows of Medieval cathedrals to the war against them led by Thomas Becket in Reformation England and from the transformation of glass from a luxury material to an affordable commodity for the middle class, which we owe to the craftsmanship of Charles Louis Tiffany in the late 19th century, the history of glass is deeply intertwined with the history of universal culture and technological progress.