Spain.
A former cooperative hosts new theatre, neighbours rethink the ownership of a home, and tactile tools invite participation. Spanish examples connect design with the ways people share a city.
Start with Sala Beckett.
Let the old room keep speaking.
Barcelona’s theatre and writing centre preserves traces of a former workers’ cooperative in its new public life.
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A sign that can find its voice.
Colourful camera-readable markers bring transport information into audio, helping people reach a sign’s meaning without precisely aiming at it.
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Give the street another purpose.
Barcelona reorganises traffic to make room for walking, planting and everyday public life. The change begins with who can pass through a street.
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Music made by moving objects on a table.
Move a block and the music changes. Reactable turns a tabletop into a synthesiser, with physical objects and projected connections making a normally hidden musical system visible and shareable.
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Digital knitting at studio scale.
The next version of a garment can depend on access to a machine far beyond the designer's studio. Kniterate brings automatic knitting and shaping closer to that studio. The interesting change is the shorter distance between an idea, a physical sample and another attempt.
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Cross the river without closing it to ships.
A suspended gondola connects two banks without blocking the shipping channel between them.
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A home to use, rather than trade.
Residents secure the right to live in their homes, while the cooperative keeps ownership of the building.
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Let the helmet take up less of the day.
A bicycle helmet collapses vertically for carrying, while its nested sections stay extended around the wearer’s head.
Read the storyAn editorial starting point for exploring Spain, not a ranking or a comprehensive national survey.