Learnings from

Travelling has always been essential for architects — at least for those who could afford it. It is one of the most direct ways to experience architecture in its full reality: not as an isolated object, but as something embedded in its surroundings. Through travel, one can understand how buildings relate to their cultural, historical, and social context, and how they engage with the life around them.

It’s an active practice: it involves drawing, sketching, taking notes, recording impressions. The journey becomes a form of study, a way of learning through direct encounter. The notebooks of Le Corbusier or Harry Seidler are emblematic examples of that.

With this background in mind, ETSALS sought to encourage this kind of experience among its students. To do so, the school envisioned a series of travel guides dedicated to different cities, beginning with Rome and Berlin.

For me, the name needed to embody the project’s central purpose: learning from the place itself. Not approaching the city with a preconceived idea, but allowing an encounter in which the city, the student, and the school could merge. This is also where the material choice becomes meaningful: the mirror suggests a reciprocal relationship between the observer and the place.

Each book also ends with blank pages, reinforcing the invitation for students to add their own “learnings.”