Foundations: What Happens Below
Every building rests on a guess.
Yours can rest on knowledge.
Get to know what happens beneath the ground line — how soil, loads and footings work together — so the invisible half of your building never keeps you up at night.
What happens below ground will stop puzzling you.
- Read the ground — understand how different soils behave under a building's weight
- Know each footing type — see when pads, rafts and piles each make sense
- Follow loads downward — trace forces from roof to earth with total clarity
- Talk to engineers — hold structural conversations without feeling out of your depth
- Spot warning signs — recognise settlement and movement problems before they escalate
- Design from below — let ground conditions inform your ideas from the very start
Built by one of the most-read architecture platforms in the world.
RTF | Rethinking The Future has spent over a decade publishing the ideas, projects and voices shaping architecture — and now brings that depth to learning. Every course is researched, written and produced by the RTF team.
Confidence starts below ground.
A clear path. Five steps.
Everything unlocks instantly with membership · learn at your own pace
If you see yourself here, start today.
A few hours from now, you could already see differently.
Everything below ground level was a grey hatch of mystery in my drawings. The course explained soil behaviour, footing types and why foundations are chosen, in language an architect can actually use. I now hold sensible conversations with structural engineers instead of nodding through them.
Simple by design.
Watch
Short, focused video lessons — each one a single idea, clearly explained.
Apply
End every lesson with a small task that pushes your real project forward.
Transform
Watch your work develop a point of view that is unmistakably yours.
Answered simply.
Aren't foundations purely the structural engineer's territory?
The engineer sizes them, but the architect's early moves — levels, basements, siting — decide how hard and expensive they become. This course puts you in that conversation.
Will I understand soil reports after this?
You'll be able to read one without fear, know which findings threaten your design, and ask the engineer the right questions.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Every course starts from where you are and builds up step by step, in plain language.
Is this software training?
No — software changes yearly. The thinking you learn here lasts a career.
How does it work?
Short video lessons with a small practice task after each. Any device, your pace.
What does membership include?
One membership unlocks every course on RTF Academy — all 450+, nothing sold separately. And you stay in control: cancel anytime in one click, and you will never be charged again.
Ready to see your work change?
Your next project could be the one that feels truly yours.
- 5 Sections
- 25 Lessons
- 4 Hours
- 1. What It Does and How It Fails5
- 2. The Options Compared5
- 3. The Detail5
- 4. Performance5
- 5. Specifying and Building It5
Reviews
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Everything below ground level was a grey hatch of mystery in my drawings. The course explained soil behaviour, footing types and why foundations are chosen, in language an architect can actually use. I now hold sensible conversations with structural engineers instead of nodding through them.
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