Traces, limits, readings
On historic structures, traces do not speak on their own; they have to be read without projecting rushed explanations onto them.
Investigations
What we see before design
A good investigation does not gather information at random; it reduces the uncertainties that can alter the structural solution.
How we read a degraded slab.
Slab degradation is not assessed by appearance, but by the way the elements still collaborate or have ceased to do so.
When documentation becomes project.
There are moments when organising and interpreting information is no longer only preparation, but a direct part of the structural solution.
Reading old masonry.
Old masonry is understood from the relationship between material, workmanship, degradation, and successive repairs, not from a single test.