Situated Design Practices
Reflection Workshop
Syllabus⇝
Students will explore four distinct situated design practices. The course offers two complementary levels of exploration: one focused on geographical contexts and the other driven by community engagement. While these approaches can be examined separately, their materiality and meaning often intersect. The course invites students to discover, visit, and contextualize various metropolitan areas of Barcelona. Through this journey, we will delve into their unique identities, historical narratives, and contemporary realities. Students will engage with local communities involved in diverse professional and personal practices. We will also foster connections with lawyers, journalists, and niche internet personalities to better understand how communities emerge or are shaped—whether recognized or hidden, institutionalized or marginalized, celebrated or stigmatized.
Learning Objectives⇝
- Community driven design
- Research trough design
- Ciritcal positioning
- Commitment development
- Community engagement
- Situated design practices
- The politics of design
Keywords: Community, Commitment, Context, Expanded Realities
Schedule⇝
9:30-16:00
Bike trip along the Llobregat River to Cal Negre
Bike trip
Start: 9:30
Meeting Point: Carrer Cobalt 38, 08907 L’Hospitalet de Llobregat
L’Hospitalet to El Prat de Llobregat following the Llobregat River
11:30 – Arrive to El Prat de Llobregat Beach: Situated Design Practices Course Introduction
12:00 – El Prat de Llobregat Beach to Cal Negre
12:30 – Cal Negre introduction
13:00 – Lunch
14:00 – Cal Negre activities
Cal Negre is a community, a house, and an experimental space located just 200 meters from the Barcelona Airport. Its residents explore communal ways of living and working, deeply engaging with the surrounding territory and context.
9:30-11:30
Session with Hibai Harbidez about Borders and Forced Communities
9:30 – Online talk by Hibai Harbide
11:00 – Q&A
Hibai Arbide Aza is a lawyer by training but works as a journalist. Since 2014, he has been living in Greece, where he has worked as a television correspondent and has published in print media for various international outlets. He has been a member of Muzungu Producciones since 2015. For nearly two decades, he has been involved in issues related to borders and freedom of movement; first as an activist, then as a lawyer, and now as a journalist, covering the so-called “refugee crisis” of recent years in Greece, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Germany. Other common topics in his work include social issues, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ matters.
9:30-11:30
Visit to Alencop and Andròmines
9:30 – Visit to Alencop
Alencop is a social cooperative in Barcelona, founded in 2015 to support vulnerable migrant populations, particularly informal scrap metal collectors. Backed by the Barcelona City Council, it provides dignified employment, promotes sustainable waste management, and facilitates social inclusion. In 2020, Alencop merged with Andròmines to strengthen its focus on the circular economy and continue empowering individuals at risk of social exclusion.
9:30-11:30
Session with Ben Ditto about Internet Subcultures
9:30 – Online talk by Ben Ditto
11:00 – Q&A
Ben Ditto is a creative director living and working in London. Ditto’s projects span a broad spectrum of disciplines including moving image, CGI, creative coding, branding, AI, print and live experience to name just a few. Ben’s utilisation of Instagram as a tool for reportage on topics ranging from military hardware to surgical procedures – and everything in between – has gained him a cult online following and propelled him to the realm of “niche micro-internet celebrity”. This led to the cultivation of an online community, Ditto Nation, on Telegram and Discord, as well as a documentary series under the same name. Ben is also the art director of his eponymous publishing company Ditto, and founded Dazed Beauty alongside Isamaya Ffrench. Ditto was recently appointed as the creative director of Desdemona, a robot created in a collaboration between Hanson Robotics and Singularity Net, with the aim of creating the future of AI celebrity.
Methodological Strategies⇝
- Case studies
- Tours / Itineraries
- Workshops
- Lectures
- Group discussions
- Team-based learning
Deliverables⇝
Situated design practice positioning + Community of impact framing (Text/pictorial)
Grading Method⇝
| Percentage | Description |
|---|---|
| 20% | Participation |
| 30% | Text |
| 50% | Personal reflections |
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
3 ECTS
Faculty⇝
Saúl Baeza is DOES and MAYBE Creative Director, VISIONS BY Founder and Editor-in-chief and VIBE content director. While lecturing at Elisava Barcelona University of Design and Engineering he also researches functional and digital identities as part of the “Making with..." Research Group (TU Eindhoven Research) and "Futures Now" Research Group (Elisava Research). Saúl is the co-director of the Master in Design For Emergent Futures (MDEF), organised by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, in collaboration with the Fab Academy. Saúl has been visiting professor and lecturer at international universities, educational institutions and cultural venues such as Harvard GSD, Central Saint Martins and London College of Communication (UAL), Institute for advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), RMIT University Melbourne, Rhode Island School of Design, Pascual Bravo University in Medellín, Sónar+D, Victoria&Albert Museum, CCCB and DHUB, among others.