What is the goal of a five-day seminar for the (architectural) design of a ?water and sanitation hub? in Mali? What does one want to achieve, or rather, what is the seminar meant to ?disseminate?? To begin with, what is a ?water and sanitation hub?? It is a place where water, sanitation and other facilities are available (hub is the central part of a wheel that connects the axle to the wheel itself). Water is water, and sanitation refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe management of human excreta from the toilet to containment, storage and treatment onsite, or, alternatively, conveyance, treatment and eventual safe end use or disposal). Water and sanitation is an eminently technical field, dealt with by specialists. Usually, relatively little is said about water and sanitation in schools of architecture.

Este manual de prácticas ha sido elaborado por los autores con la idea de que los alumnos que acaban de empezar el Grado en Arquitectura se inicien en el maravilloso mundo del diseño arquitectónico. Se pretende aportar una serie de prácticas sencillas sobre el diseño de instalaciones para que el alumno tome conciencia de la importancia de la formación en diseño y aprenda a manejarse en clase con la seguridad necesaria.