Journal
Notes, essays and updates from the Academy.
- Newsletters
[machine-seed] Journal News render-check
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July 31, 2026
- Newsletters
What Is Symbiotic Design?
An introduction to a framework that treats every design relationship as alive, never neutral.
July 11, 2026
- Newsletters
Tame, Wicked, or Hybrid? The Question to Ask Before You Choose a Method
Two designers can face the same brief and need completely different approaches. Here is how to tell which one you are holding.
July 11, 2026
NewsFour Weeks Teaching the Design Framework at Henan University
Gonzalo spent four weeks teaching the Symbiotic Design Framework to first-year architecture students at Henan University, leaning on translation apps to bridge the language gap.
June 13, 2026
NewsMore Scenes Where Past Meets Future at Henan Drama Fantasy City
The Academy shares more scenes from Only Henan · Drama Fantasy City, the immersive theatrical park blending ancient history with modern stagecraft.
June 13, 2026
NewsExploring Ancient Bronze and Stone Artifacts at Henan Museum
The Academy toured Zhengzhou's Henan Museum, where Shang and Zhou bronzes sit beside stone carvings defaced in past upheavals — proof that culture lives in people, not stone.
June 13, 2026
NewsWhy Flea Markets Reveal a More Honest History
Symbiotic Design Academy explores why Beijing's Panjiayuan flea market reveals a messier, truer history than museums, home to the raw 'Proto-Design' objects from Symbiotic Design Framework.
June 13, 2026
NewsExploring History and Art in Beijing's 798 Art District
The Academy's founder wandered Beijing's 798 Art District, its Cold War-era factories now galleries, and found a quiet restaurant scene straight out of Edward Hopper.
June 13, 2026
NewsMeeting Tsinghua Professor Sai Ma to Discuss Design, AI and Ethics
The Academy's founder capped a China trip by meeting Tsinghua's Prof. Sai Ma to discuss design, AI, and ethics, and delivering copies of his book to the faculty.
June 13, 2026
NewsMeeting Zhang Jinhuan and Her Ink Shop in Zhengzhou
Gonzalo visited Madam Zhang Jinhuan's ink studio in Zhengzhou, where she hand-grinds pigments to paint devotional Buddhist scrolls and talismans.
May 31, 2026
NewsDiscovering Vintage Chinese Ink Paintings at a Market Stall
Gonzalo found two vintage Chinese ink paintings at a market stall, and a note tucked inside revealed the artist: Hao Shilin, trained at Hangzhou's elite art academy.
May 31, 2026
NewsVisiting the Shaolin Temple in China's Songshan Mountains
Gonzalo visits the Shaolin Temple in Henan's Songshan Mountains, founded in the 5th century as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu, struck by its calm, hierarchical architecture.
May 25, 2026
- News
Four Weeks Teaching the Design Framework at Henan University
Gonzalo spent four weeks teaching the Symbiotic Design Framework to first-year architecture students at Henan University, leaning on translation apps to bridge the language gap.
June 13, 2026
- News
More Scenes Where Past Meets Future at Henan Drama Fantasy City
The Academy shares more scenes from Only Henan · Drama Fantasy City, the immersive theatrical park blending ancient history with modern stagecraft.
June 13, 2026
- News
Exploring Ancient Bronze and Stone Artifacts at Henan Museum
The Academy toured Zhengzhou's Henan Museum, where Shang and Zhou bronzes sit beside stone carvings defaced in past upheavals — proof that culture lives in people, not stone.
June 13, 2026
- News
Why Flea Markets Reveal a More Honest History
Symbiotic Design Academy explores why Beijing's Panjiayuan flea market reveals a messier, truer history than museums, home to the raw 'Proto-Design' objects from Symbiotic Design Framework.
June 13, 2026
- News
Exploring History and Art in Beijing's 798 Art District
The Academy's founder wandered Beijing's 798 Art District, its Cold War-era factories now galleries, and found a quiet restaurant scene straight out of Edward Hopper.
June 13, 2026
- News
Meeting Tsinghua Professor Sai Ma to Discuss Design, AI and Ethics
The Academy's founder capped a China trip by meeting Tsinghua's Prof. Sai Ma to discuss design, AI, and ethics, and delivering copies of his book to the faculty.
June 13, 2026
- News
Meeting Zhang Jinhuan and Her Ink Shop in Zhengzhou
Gonzalo visited Madam Zhang Jinhuan's ink studio in Zhengzhou, where she hand-grinds pigments to paint devotional Buddhist scrolls and talismans.
May 31, 2026
- News
Discovering Vintage Chinese Ink Paintings at a Market Stall
Gonzalo found two vintage Chinese ink paintings at a market stall, and a note tucked inside revealed the artist: Hao Shilin, trained at Hangzhou's elite art academy.
May 31, 2026
- News
Visiting the Shaolin Temple in China's Songshan Mountains
Gonzalo visits the Shaolin Temple in Henan's Songshan Mountains, founded in the 5th century as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu, struck by its calm, hierarchical architecture.
May 25, 2026
NewsExploring the Longmen Grottoes as a Lesson in Proto-Design
While teaching the Symbiotic Design Framework in China, Gonzalo toured Luoyang's Longmen Grottoes, where thousands of Buddhist statues are carved into cliffs above the Yi River.
May 24, 2026
NewsOnly Henan Drama Fantasy City Amazes During China Trip
Gonzalo was awed by Only Henan · Drama Fantasy City, the immersive theatrical complex blending ancient Chinese history with modern staging, during his China trip.
May 23, 2026
NewsReflections on Reaching and Growing New Design Communities
Gonzalo reflects on the challenge and reward of introducing symbiotic design thinking to communities encountering it for the first time.
May 18, 2026
- Videos
New Design Book Born from Decades of Research
Symbiotic Design Academy unveiled a book distilling eight years of research and 360 designer interviews into a personal, sometimes provocative take on design's ethics and future.
December 17, 2025
- Videos
Symbiotic Design Academy Presented at CV+i Circular Day
Gonzalo presented the Symbiotic Design Academy project at CV+i's Circular Day, an event centered on circular economy and systemic design.
September 28, 2023
- Videos
Symbiotic Design Academy Launches First Course on Earth Day
Gonzalo marked Earth Day by launching the Academy's first course, teaching a design framework centered on sustainability and interconnectedness.
April 23, 2023
- Videos
Explaining the Symbiotic Design Framework and Free Course
Gonzalo explains the Symbiotic Design Framework, an approach centered on the interconnections within design processes, and points viewers to the Academy's free introductory course.
April 21, 2023
- Videos
Congress of Design Policies Explores Design's Broader Role
Gonzalo poses the questions behind the Congress of Design Policies: if design solves problems so well, why isn't it used more broadly as a cornerstone for a better future.
November 3, 2022
- Videos
Founder Shares a Lovely Day in Saint-Cyprien
A brief, sunny moment Gonzalo shared from Saint-Cyprien, a seaside town on France's Mediterranean coast.
August 11, 2022
- Videos
Streets Are Alive: A Look at Public Spaces
A brief video capturing the energy of public space, with Gonzalo simply noting that the streets are alive with everyday activity.
August 8, 2022
- Videos
Home Studio Set Up for a Lockdown Design Project
During lockdown, Gonzalo rigged up a makeshift home studio, using a Sony A7III and iMac setup to keep a new project moving.
May 29, 2020
- Videos
Live Music and Murals Mark Return Trip to Buenos Aires
Gonzalo caught live music from Amor Elefante against a backdrop of Juan Molinet murals on a fourth visit to Buenos Aires, just before the final stretch of his PhD.
July 15, 2018
- Videos
Tomás Saraceno's Spider-Web Installation Featured in Buenos Aires
Gonzalo shares Tomás Saraceno's installation How to Entangle the Universe in a Spider Web, built over six months by roughly 7,000 Parawixia bistriata spiders, on view in Buenos Aires.
March 11, 2018
- Videos
Leon Ferrari's 'Opus 113' Concrete Art Sculpture
A look at Opus 113 by Argentine concrete artist León Ferrari, whose kinetic sculpture work Gonzalo photographs in Buenos Aires.
March 4, 2018
NewsFounder Guest-Edits Design for All Newsletter Issue on Misery
Gonzalo guest-edits an issue of India's Design for All newsletter centered on poverty, a topic he felt design discourse overlooks, featuring research from Carolina Montt Steffens and two co-authors.
August 18, 2019
NewsFounder Lectures at Latin American Designers Encounter in Argentina
Gonzalo lectured at the 14th Latin American Designers Encounter at Universidad de Palermo in Argentina, where he was gifted a caricature by the event's organizers.
July 30, 2019
NewsOpening Ceremony of Semana del Diseño Palermo 2019
Gonzalo attended the opening ceremony of Semana del Diseño Palermo 2019 in Buenos Aires, part of Universidad de Palermo's annual design week.
July 29, 2019
NewsLecture on Sustainable and Transdisciplinary Design in Buenos Aires
Gonzalo returned to Buenos Aires to lecture at the 14th Latin American Design Encounter, on transitional, transdisciplinary, and sustainable design and the human factor.
July 27, 2019
NewsAnnouncing a Buenos Aires Talk on the Meaning of Design
Gonzalo heads back to Buenos Aires to give a talk on what design really is, ranging across transitional and transdisciplinary thinking, sustainability, and the human factor.
June 24, 2019
NewsMore on GT2P's Design School Workshop Process
A look behind the scenes at a workshop GT2P, the Chilean studio known for parametric and digital-fabrication design, ran at Gonzalo's design school.
May 18, 2019
NewsGT2P Workshop Process at the Design School
Gonzalo shared process work from a GT2P-led workshop at his design school, thanking collaborators Willy and Seba for the parametric design session.
May 18, 2019
NewsA Talk on Chile's Future in the Year 2100
Gonzalo attended a talk hosted by Corfo and the Chile 2100 initiative on what the country might look like at the turn of the next century.
May 18, 2019
NewsMarcela Trujillo's 'Fabulas Privadas' Exhibit at Sala Gasco
Gonzalo visited 'Fábulas Privadas,' an exhibit of work by Chilean cartoonist Marcela Trujillo, known as Maliki, at Santiago's Sala Gasco.
May 18, 2019
NewsStreet Art Piece 'Astro' by Dasic Fernandez in Santiago
Gonzalo spotlights 'Astro,' a striking piece of street art by Chilean muralist Dasic Fernández, seen around Santiago.
May 18, 2019
NewsGT2P Workshop Begins for First-Year Students at UFT
Design studio GT2P, with Willy Parada, kicks off a workshop for first-year students at Universidad Finis Terrae's design school.
May 16, 2019
NewsBird Photography Featuring a Blackish Oystercatcher
A photograph of a blackish oystercatcher, known locally as pilpilén negro, part of Gonzalo's ongoing bird photography.
February 14, 2019