Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory

Published by Park Books
Edited by Nick Axel & Javier Peña Ibáñez

Now available – More info

Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory looks back at the first decade of the international festival Concéntrico in Logroño, Spain, which since 2015 has commissioned more than 150 interventions in public space. Conceived as a living laboratory, the festival explores how architecture and design can strengthen communities and foster direct dialogue between designers and citizens.

The publication offers a unique reflection on the transformation of cities and the role that architecture and design play in the 21st century. Through a carefully curated selection of 86 projects by artists, architects, and designers from 20 countries, it addresses pressing urban questions —identity, heritage, temporality, collectivity, ecology, play, and domesticity— through the critical lens of commissions developed for Concéntrico. Richly illustrated and accompanied by concise texts, the book is framed by a conversation between its editors, Javier Peña Ibáñez and Nick Axel, tracing the context, evolution, and insights generated by the festival over the past ten years.

Its structure unfolds across seven chapters that reflect the transformations of the contemporary city and reveal the festival’s urban, experimental, and engaged character: from exploring identity and fiction to rethinking heritage and symbolism; from temporality as a tool for activating the social to new forms of collectivity and cooperation; from designing urban ecologies to imagining playable cities and critically domesticating public space. Each chapter gathers interventions that test new forms of coexistence, craft alternative urban narratives, or reactivate overlooked spaces — always through a critical, contemporary perspective.

The volume brings together projects by internationally renowned studios alongside emerging practices. Among them are Matali Crasset, Oana Stănescu, Camille Walala, Anna & Eugeni Bach, Lanza Atelier, Gregor Schneider, Recetas Urbanas, Izaskun Chinchilla, Guillermo Santomà, Benedetto Bufalino, Jorge Penadés, TAKK, Konstantin Grcic, Studio Ossidiana, Lucas Muñoz, Sara Ricciardi Studio, and Raiviobumann, among many others.

Concéntrico & Friends Book Tour

The launch of Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory will be accompanied by an international tour of presentations in autumn 2025 in Madrid, London, Paris, Chicago, Syracuse, Barcelona, and Milan, in collaboration with leading cultural partners such as Círculo de Bellas Artes, Instituto Cervantes, delpire & co, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) together with MAS Context, the School of Architecture – Syracuse University, Fundació Mies van der Rohe, and Triennale Milano.

The itinerary will also include stops in Segovia, Logroño, Porto, and Dhahran, as well as additional dates to be confirmed in Brussels, Rotterdam, Valencia, Madeira, Bucharest, and Prague, consolidating the international dimension of Concéntrico as a platform that shares, debates, and envisions new ways of thinking about the contemporary city.

Confirmed Agenda · Autumn 2025

September 12 · Segovia · HAY Festival · 11:30 am at Dancing Bench Plaza Mayor

September 16 · London · London Design Festival · Instituto Cervantes · 6:30 pm with Sahra Hersi

September 18 · Paris · Librairie delpire & co · 7:00 pm with Matali Crasset, Didier Faustino, MUOTO, Jean-Benoît Vétillard, and other guests

September 19 · Madrid · Festival de las Ideas – Círculo de Bellas Artes · 6:00 pm with Izaskun Chinchilla

September 29 · Chicago · University of Illinois Chicago · MAS Context · 5:30 pm with Stewart Hicks, Allison Newmeyer, and Kelly Bair

October 2 · Syracuse (NY) · School of Architecture – Syracuse University · 5:30 pm with Edgar Rodríguez, Greg Corso, Rosita Palladino, Magdalena Valdevenito, and Pablo Sequero

October 9 · Logroño · Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de La Rioja · 7:00 pm with Javier Dulín and Blurarquitectura

October 11 · Madrid · Paperground Bookshop · 12:30 pm with Estudio Casao Terrazas

November 6 · Barcelona · Fundació Mies van der Rohe · Editorial Gustavo Gili Headquarters · 7:00 pm with Anna & Eugeni Bach and Un Parell d’Arquitectes

November 14 · Porto · ArtWorks + Circo de Ideas · 7:00 pm with Andreia Garcia, Diogo Aguiar, Os Especialistas, FAHR 021.3, and Branco del Río

November 17 · Dhahran · Tanween

Contents by theme and authors

The book’s content is structured around seven thematic chapters that reflect the conceptual approaches and lines of exploration developed by Concéntrico. Each chapter brings together a constellation of authors and collectives whose proposals have contributed to imagining new ways of inhabiting the urban realm. This structure allows for a journey through a decade of experimentation from diverse perspectives, connecting contexts, disciplines, and generations.

Identity and fiction

Iza Rutkowska, Matali Crasset, Didier Fiúza Faustino, Corvin Cristian, OE Arquitectura, Branco del Río, Paloma Cañizares, Oana Stănescu, Un Parell d’Arquitectes, Plastique Fantastique, Spy, Juan Llamazares Argüelles, Manuel Bouzas Cavada + Manuel Bouzas Barcala + Clara Álvarez García, Camille Walala, Willem de Haan

Heritage and symbolism

Matteo Ghidoni + Enrico Dusi, Anna & Eugeni Bach, KOGAA, Cássio Sauer + Elisa T. Martins + Mauricio Méndez [Sauermartins], Lanza Atelier, Associates Architecture, Lebrel [Fernando Abellanas], Muoto + Georgi Stanishev, Guillermo Santomà, Paradigma Ariadné, Davide Marchetti + Noumena, Palma + Hanghar, Gregor Schneider

Temporary but social

Picado de Blas, Tools for Action, Mjölk, 44 Flavours, Javier Dulín, Patricia Ramos + Miriam Alonso + Paula Mena, ESDIR (Clara Alonso + Marta Basterra + Mikel Aguerrea), FAHR 012.3, Piovenefabi, Pool is Cool + Dallas

Collective and cooperative

Recetas Urbanas, Herrmann + Coufal, Jakub Szczęsny, Izaskun Chinchilla, Alei Verspoor, Daryan Knoblauch, Hollman Reuter Sandman Architects, Outpost Office, JI Arquitectos + Blas Antón, Hypereden + Frantoio Sociale

Urban ecologies

Benedetto Bufalino, Quentin Gérard + Guillaume Deman + Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton + Matthieu Brasebin, Blurarquitectura, Javier García, Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Guillermo Trapiello, KOSMOS, Robin Falck, Jorge Penadés, Barkow Leibinger, Jordi Galí + Jérémy Paon + Julien Quartier [Arrangement Provisoire], Horizonte, Vivian Rotie + Pablo Saiz, Laurent Martin, TAKK

Playable cities

Mecanismo, Konstantin Grcic, Marc Morro, Studio Ossidiana, Meii Estudio (Elvira Carrión + Jose Mª Mateo) + Clara Torregrosa + Gabriel Millán, Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop, JBVA + Eugenio Nuzzo + Anatole Poirier + Alex Roux, Os Espacialistas, Lucas Muñoz, École Supérieure de Design de Troyes, Silvia Bachetti + Agnese Casadio, Sara Ricciardi Studio, Malte Martin

Domesticating public space

Gonzalo Herrero + Pati Santos [Central Saint Martins], Ander López Alberdi + Sarai Olabarrieta Morales, Jennyfher Alvarado + Álvaro González, Gabrielle Vinson + Quentin Devoyer + Edwin Toledo, Attila Kim + Bogdan Ciocodeica, Pawel Grobelny, Raiviobumann, ESD Madrid, Tudor Vlăsceanu, Collective X