On Designing the Human Environment

This volume presents a selection of seminal texts by Argentine design theorist and educator Tomás Maldonado (1922-2018). For over 50 years Maldonado has been recognized as pioneering by generations of designers, design thinkers and design historians from around the world. As an avant-garde artist in his native Argentina, director of the Ulm School of Design in Germany, and consultant for Olivetti ELEA calculator in Italy, his practice was informed and shaped by a complex vision of design in dialogue with other disciplines.

Published for the first time in English, Raimonda Riccini brings together Maldonado's critical writings in four parts: Art and Artefacts, Design Theory, Environmental Design, and Critique of Technologies. This curated set of essays presents a comprehensive overview of his oeuvre on topics such as art and science, architecture and industrial design, epistemology and education, communication and semiotics, bodies and comfort, environmental crisis, and the digital world. In part five, renowned design scholars Lara Penin, Emanuele Quinz, Pierfrancesco Califano and Maria Amalia García interview Maldonado's pupils and collaborators including Gui Bonsiepe, Giovanni Anceschi, Medardo Chiapponi and Silvia Fernandez who offer valuable insights into the trajectory of his intellectual life, global influence and enduring relevance on the contemporary stage.

Advancing our understanding of underexplored areas of Maldonado's design discourse, On Designing the Human Environment makes available in English one of the leading philosophical and critical voices of design history and theory.