DRAWING STRUCTURES #1 FIRST YEAR GC
CIVIL ENGINEERING – EPFL
This publication marks the first edition of Drawing Structures, a first-year atelier presenting a selection of thirteen working drawings produced during the Fall 2024 semester at EPFL by 102 first-year civil engineering students. In this foundational course, we introduce drawing by hand as a conceptual and creative tool central to the formation of the civil engineers as creatives, designers and project makers.
Each student develops a set of drawings over the course of the semester, based on one of nine selected bridges by Swiss engineer Robert Maillart (1872–1940). Using archival documentation and selecting an appropriate scale, students begin to draw projective plans, sections, and axonometric fragments, gradually exploring the spatial and structural logic embedded in Maillart’s bridges.
These hand-drawings often include notes on dimensions and details that reflect each student’s level of engagement and understanding. The drawings reveal not only the geometry of the structure, but also the thinking behind its conception and its construction, a creative act that involves imagination, intuition and deliberate choice. The atmosphere of the drawings, and the emotional quality of inscribing a line directly onto paper, immediately set the tone for the care and attentiveness with which we intend to conduct the semester.
The methodology is very specific and strict, yet it allows of fosters through the act of drawing a kind of thinking that is not linear, nor limited to calculation. To draw is to observe, analyze, and construct. Drawing helps civil engineering students to develop critical thinking, visualization skills, and the ability to navigate the multiple layers of design: constructional, technical, conceptual, historical, and cultural.
The focus of the course is to construct a plan and sections of a bridge that includes the landscape and selecting a scale to understand its materiality and detailing. Orthographic projection, with its unique ability to preserve scale, offers a precise open space for analytical investigation. Yet beyond its technical precision, drawing serves as an external memory, a cognitive extension that supports creativity and transformation. Ambiguities become opportunities for discovery.
Descriptive geometry, as developed by Gaspard Monge (1746 -1818), remains a fundamental method for translating three-dimensional forms into two-dimensional representations, and vice versa. Through rigorous training in projection techniques, students learn to visualize, analyze, and manipulate spatial relationships and structural systems. These foundational skills cultivate the intuitive spatial reasoning essential for civil engineers able to engage with projects as both designers and builders of complex structures.
Axonometric projection introduced in the second part of the semester, becomes a space for immersive exploration. It allows the unfolding of spatial depth and transparency, revealing a constructive logic through the slow layering of lines. These drawings are accumulations of thought, time, and precision.
Imagination does not reside only in the mind. It is also embedded in the act of drawing, in the simple and personal language of lines, points, and planes. The paper becomes a space of projection, memory, and imagination. Drawing becomes a cycle of doing, analyzing, correcting, and redoing, a process that mirrors the iterative nature of both design and construction, enabling a reflected engagement with form and matter.
Drawing is always a creative transformation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This Teaching Unit has received financial support from the Section of Civil Engineerinng. The lectures are very appreciative of the support received and would like to thank Brice Lecampion, Director GC, and Katrin Beyer, Dean ENAC for their constant support, time and personal involvement.
TEACHING TEAM
Patricia Guaita, architect, ENAC IA ALICE
Raffael Baur, architect, lecturer ENAC
David Fernández-Ordoñez, civil engineer, lecturer, ENAC SGC
Enrique Corres Sojo, civil engineer, construction assistant, ENAC SGC
STUDENTS ASSISTANTS
Lise Bachmann, Noah Enzmann, Paul Giamberini , Iris Gibourg, Léa Guillotin, Mathilde Janottin, Sarah Pupo
STUDENTS
Riley James Scott, Aaron Tom Leen Van Gyseghem, Oliver André Wege, Philippe Yvo Wolpert, Ran Xu, Matthieu Claude Comoy, Dorian Joseph Victor Bernard De Chabot De Tramecourt, Meva Weber, Ghali Guessous, Mingyang Luo, Céléna Marie Naïka Renard, Seyma Aktas, Lilia Marie Malika Belin, Nina Marie Olivia Dufour, Alexan Floure, Justin Francis Fernand Labaeye, Nesrin Piatti, Filippos Ballian, Théo Bernet, Timothée Jonas Evard, Mathieu Maximilien Kalmus, Elettra Lattuada, Gabrielle Mayence Measson, Loïc Pierre Georges Acquaviva, Margot Christiane Michèle Akel, Yasmine Belbachir, Clara Elena Valet, Maxima Laetizia Weis, Chiara McLaughlin , Adrian Delley, Nathan Chatagny, Milo Heim, Maria Francisca Marinho Pontes, Yacine Mehdi Amrari, Nathan Mesic, Ahmed Ghannan, Charles Guy Gilbert Devigny Chavanne, Diego Siffredi, Thibault Robin Zen-Ruffinen, Nora Janka Benczur, Malo Kerambrun, Emma Rose Maëwen Marie Le Morvan, Lisa Bel-Merabet, Gabrielle Joséphine Laurence Marini, Nour Naja, Aurélie Délétroz, Elina Erin Marxer, Alice Annie Lucie Verniquet, Emna Abdelmalek, Valentin Bertrand Michel Dutoit, Elise Hochard, Anna Marie Hélène Billon, Eva Rachel Kupecek, Olivia Lavinia C Mahieu, Julia Michelle Espirat, Cleopatra Maria Adelina Moroianu, Paula Tarazona Rodríguez, Nastassja Kruse, Victor Gabriel Monfredo, Laura Monney, Thomas Mark Burnier Rim Wydad Juillard, Louis Stäheli, Thierry Cajeux, Arnaud Monney, Florian Verstappen, Eliot Ferrari, Christina Nassar, Paula Abaroa Del Toro, Owen Chen, Noa Clivaz, Filip Gogolewski, Aline Cécile Rosset, Marylou Rose Chalas, Izumi Laurenson
Margaux Marie Erzsébet Makk-Nadeau, Nicolas Cantante Nunes, Evan David Henry, Alex Moreira Resende, Robin Roux, Noah Walker, Pierre Marc Zaninetti, Lorena Blakaj, Celia Luna Bucher, Lisa Cavin, Yann Aebischer, Emmanuel Ghoussoub, Ndaye-Coumba Tall, Nathan Borer, Mathieu Edouard François Roques , Macéo Moktar Michel Mougin, Genti Popaj, Alex Pucino, Kenza Benchekroun , Sara Maria Cevallos Chiriboga, Julie Samba Janssens, Velson Hajra, Arnaud Wencker, Sara Zbinden, Adel Dufourd, Mohamed Yassine Remadi, Eliott Evan Mickaël Robert
EDITORIAL
Patricia Guaita
Raffael Baur
Léa Guillotin
GRAPHIC DESIGN Studio Otamendi, Brussels
PRINT & BINDING Neoprint, Morges
DOI: 10.5075/epfl.20.500.14299/250425
© 2025 authors