The writings collected here—concluded with a dialogue with Kenneth Frampton on the intensity of architecture—are the result of classes taught by Campo Baeza at ETSAM, his beloved Madrid School of Architecture, and many other schools around the world, following a period of quiet maturation over the last few years. "The intention of these Principia is to develop a foundational text, a summary and synthesis of the key themes with which we continue to work and which we understand, with increasing clarity each day, as central to architecture. These are not so much personal discoveries as they are essential themes of architecture itself."
Although the topics covered are diverse, Campo Baeza has chosen to emphasize those with a direct relationship to his work: light, earth, the substantial, poetry, precision, lightness, the horizontal plane, the corner, materials, construction, structures, memory, artifacts, nature, time... This is because his works, projects, and classes have developed in the heat of these themes, while at the same time, almost all of these themes have emerged from his built work (and from some projects that never saw the light of day). Thus, while convinced that architecture cannot exist without its origins in ideas and reason, he also does not believe in an architecture that lacks the will to be built, or that does not aim to become a constructed work. In this same vein, Campo Baeza asserts: "If these thoughts are the reason for my architecture, I cannot 'hide' when it comes time to unfold them. Even if some friends ask for greater sterility. Artistic creation was never sterile."
