Walking and drawing: Experimental pedagogies in architectural education at the university of Évora

Abstract

In an age of rapid digitization in architectural education, design studios are often dominated by computer modelling, standardized templates, and virtual simulations. This digital shift has brought efficiency and new capabilities, but it also risks detaching architectural learning from the tactile and contextual realities of place. In response, the architecture program at the University of Évora – a centre for the creation, transmission and dissemination of culture, science and art, which, through the combination of study, teaching and research, is integrated into the life of society – recentres embodied and situated design practices. Drawing from Donald Schön’s notion of the design studio as a locus of “reflection-in action”,1 our approach emphasizes learning through direct engagement with real environments. We posit walking, drawing, and redrawing as core methods for re-grounding architectural education in lived experience and critical reflection. Évora’s unique setting – a historic walled city surrounded by Alentejo landscapes – provides an ideal “living laboratory”2 for this approach, where students immerse themselves in the genius loci of place rather than solely in digital abstractions. By taking design learning back to the field and sketchbook, we aim to cultivate perceptive, contextually aware architects who can integrate the sensory and social dimensions of architecture with contemporary design challenges. This article elaborates on these pedagogical strategies as developed in the Design Studio and Urban Design units at Évora. It presents case studies of student work – such as Sylvie Claro’s walking-based exploration of Évora’s aqueduct, Gabriel Oliveira’s drawing-based inquiry into a riverine landscape, and Claudia Batista’s redrawing of Álvaro Siza’s sketchbooks – to illustrate how walking, drawing, and redrawing operate as tools of analysis, imagination and research. Through these examples, we reflect on themes of context, embodiment, time, and the pedagogical value of resisting the speed of purely digital design culture. By re-integrating slow, physical processes into architectural education, we argue for a richer, more critical mode of learning aligned with both local heritage and contemporary needs. This paper is structured to first describe the Évora context and studio framework, then delve into each core method and its theoretical underpinnings, and finally discuss the outcomes and broader implications of this experimental pedagogy.