Abstract
We perceive the world mostly with our vision, undervaluing all the other senses that can participate in a better understanding of our immediate surroundings. A comprehensive and subjective perception is especially relevant for those who take an active part in creating our environment - namely, architects. As educators, the authors took it upon themselves to awaken, through practical experience, a deeper awareness of the spatial environment in first-semester architecture students, with a design project of a small house conversion. This was achieved through an interdisciplinary, embodied approach, i.e. sets of somatic exercises within an exploratory workshop, which motivated the students to reconnect with bodily sensations which stay unnoticed or that they usually take for granted. They gained knowledge on how to comprehend with their bodies and critically approach spatial situations, search for inspiration in unconventional places and apply spontaneity and their corporeal experience in their own designs. The body was recognised as the place for potential creative and productive transgressions during the process.
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