Bricks are not digital: the tactile experience in construction teaching

Abstract

This article explores the disconnect between the digital skills promoted by the educational system and the essentially physical nature of construction in architecture, analysing the challenges faced by first-year architecture students, who often arrive with little knowledge of construction techniques. . We defend that the teaching of construction must evolve to balance the digital with the physical, and in this work a propaedeutic teaching strategy is presented for the subjects of Construction I and II of the first year of the Degree in Fundamentals of Architecture of the ETSAVA, which advocates complementing the digital tools used in the theoretical part with physical and practical experiences where the student touches different objects and materials with their hands. This praxis is inspired by historical models such as the Bauhaus and the Chicago School, as well as contemporary approaches such as Studio-Based Learning.