Bordes explained how the tangram game or the magic lantern, very popular in the 19th century, influenced the great geniuses of the avant-garde and inspired trends such as cubism or neoplasticism. "Kandinski, Picasso and many other great geniuses of the avant-garde were children at that time and it is very likely that they played with those toys and that these influenced them in their professional life."

Construction kits

Building sets or blocks played a major role throughout the conference because, according to Juan Bordes,"they have inspired a whole generation of architects". From the first alphabetic blocks to Friederich Fröbel's games, these toys have been "a lesson for children about construction, the behavior of materials and the importance of order," said Bordes.

The lecturer also revealed the immediate parallelism of architecture with these toys, "the models proposed by the block manufacturers correspond to the stylistic reflections of the architecture of the time; they have even anticipated the architecture of tomorrow". He has also shown some examples of how these toys have influenced great architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, "in one of Fröbel's manuals there are models reminiscent of the Robie House or the Unity Temple. It seems that these structures were engraved in the child's unconscious and influenced him in his professional life".

After a few questions from some of the more than 200 attendees, Bordes visited the University of Navarra campus and the Museum building under construction.