Faced with changes in higher education, due to the health emergency of COVID-19, face-to-face contexts - laboratories, workshops, and studios - needed to migrate into digital environments. We analyze first-year design studios, to identify the main pedagogical approaches, didactics, and contents' presentation and evaluation, and how they transform to e-learning. The examples serve as a reference to evaluate the main difficulties and advantages of distance learning, not only as an alternative to face-to-face teaching during the current health emergency but as an opportunity to develop new resources and skills that challenge some of the traditions of engineering and architecture teaching.