ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the methods of learning and teaching architecture of José Zanine Caldas, one of Brazil's masters. The work is organized in three main points: observation, doing (tacit experimentation), and dialogue, bringing in each theme information on how he learned architecture. All information was retrieved from bibliography on the subject and from interviews with people who worked with Zanine. The authors believe that the study of Zanine's methods can help the students in the structural concept of their works and that it is relevant because they rely strongly on the independence of the student to develop his own knowledge, an attentiveness to one's surroundings and profound respect for its natural and cultural characteristics. These qualities are extremely relevant to open architecture and design education to new sources of inspiration and hopefully incentivize a new constructive tradition, closer to a praxis that is sustainable and connected to the designer's reality
