Albert Fuster

This book's central argument is that plug-ins, situated design outcomes that aim to enrich the complex system of the city and expand its potentialities, are a solid yet supple conceptual framework for rethinking how design can be a key agent in city making. This book showcases some of the projects developed by Elisava's Design for City Making Research Lab, a research institute that investigates the role of design in the material and social construction of our habitats, focusing on spatiality, temporality, interactions, meaning, citizen engagement and social impact. Projects by students, professors and researchers, in collaboration with multiple partners including the public administration, NGOs, industry and academy, articulate the concept of design as plug-ins as the core idea of this book. This notion of plug-ins results from a renewed approach to how design can be a key agent in city making. Given that the city is a system of relationships, design for city making means understanding, reinforcing and articulating this network. We posit plug-ins as situated design outcomes that aim to enrich the complex system of the city and expand its potentialities. This book's central argument is that plug-ins are a solid yet supple conceptual framework for rethinking design's agency in the city - the main aim of Elisava's Design for City Making Research Lab. With Contributions of Ruedi Baur, Julia Benini, Josep Bohigas, David Bravo, Adri Carbonell, Tom s D ez, Danae Esparza, Ramon Faura, Tona Monjo, Salvador Rueda, Oscar Tomico, Llu s Torrens, Manuela Valtchanova

This book compiles the work of more than 20 professionals, including designers, professors, architects and historians, who are participating in this fascinating volume telling the story of 101 chairs. Ana Domínguez Siemens, Mauricio Wiesenthal, Rosina Gómez-Baeza, Isabel Campi and Daniel Giralt-Miracle survey the history of the most famous chairs, from the most avant-garde to the humblest designs. Each chair has its own story, and they all have a place here, even those whose design is not the most important feature. It is a compendium of anecdotes and stories around chairs to spotlight the fact that they are essential objects, among other reasons because, as Alessandro Mendini claims, “while the chair works, the man rests.