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Discover the Grand Projects in Public Space at DDW25

07 July 2025

The Water Basin Totem - Sandia Nassila
Eleven large-scale projects, exhibitions, and installations will take centre stage during Dutch Design Week 2025, landing at some of Eindhoven’s most prominent locations, squares, and public spaces. Explore the selected projects developed in collaboration with Dutch Design Foundation and Bureau Binnenstad Eindhoven.

“These public, often interactive installations invite you to wander, discover and pause for reflection.”

Miriam van der Lubbe, Creative Head of DDW

City at Sea Level

What if the sea rises to eye level?

City at Sea Level is a spatial installation that presents climate change not as a distant scenario, but as an urgent reality. The installation immerses you in a submerged state, confronting you with the consequences of climate denial and inaction. It makes the abstract threat of rising sea levels tangible and deeply personal.

The Waiting Room

A human glimpse behind the numbers of refugee reception.

The Waiting Room is an emergency tent, lined with reclaimed wood from bed frames used at a Dutch asylum centre in Bleskensgraaf. Inside, you’ll find bunk beds identical to those in more than 300 reception centres across the Netherlands. Take a seat and listen to personal stories from residents, sharing what it’s like to live in a reception facility. This project is a collaboration with Planemos, the Netherlands Red Cross, and Eindhoven reception centres Wasbeer and Pauw.

Factory 5.0

A living pavilion that breaks down what industry has built.

Factory 5.0 is an experimental pavilion where 10,000 mealworms digest polystyrene foam panels — a radical rethinking of architecture as temporary, living, and regenerative. The project raises questions about the future of construction, circularity, and the role of design in ecological restoration. What remains are “memory objects” — traces of transformation and symbols of a post-carbon future.

Factory 5.0
© Aditya Mandlik

The Institute for Sand Grain Elevation Policy (IZH)

Raising the Netherlands, one grain of sand at a time.

Ever wanted to contribute to raising the Netherlands? Become a Sand Grain Distributor! The Institute for Sand Grain Elevation Policy (IZH) invites your help in creatively addressing soil subsidence and low sand levels in the Netherlands. Scatter a bag of sand and add your grain to the cause. In the on-site workshop, you can observe and track the process of counting and sorting sand. This project highlights how small actions can collectively create large-scale impact.

Menhir

Make sound visible.

Menhir is an endless loop of sound and form. This interactive installation responds to live-tested frequencies, continuously shaping an ongoing soundscape with no beginning or end. Through absorption and reflection, you experience Menhir from every angle.

Rain Café

A water tank as a meeting place.

Rain Café is an interactive rainwater tank that visibly fills with every rainfall. It collects water for daily uses — from watering your garden to washing your hands — and doubles as a vibrant social hotspot. Take a seat around the tank in a lush, inviting setting complete with benches and tables. A clever system that makes water management both tangible and connecting.

Rain Café
© Floris Schoonderbeek

SONIC PLAY MAZE

Get lost in a maze of sound and connection.

Step inside SONIC PLAY MAZE: a playful, inflatable labyrinth. In this interactive installation, sound guides you through different corridors and rooms, each with its own atmosphere. The result is a game of togetherness and solitude, between public and private space.

The Umbra Pavilion

Experience solar energy through light, movement, and sound.

The Umbra Pavilion is an airy, sculptural installation made from the innovative solar textile SUNTEX. The pavilion generates energy, provides cooling shade, and demonstrates how solar design can be aesthetic, social, and sustainable. Here, you’ll experience solar power through light, movement, and sound — encouraging reflection on a future where energy generation becomes part of our shared living environment.

The Water Basin Totem

Reflect on your water use.

The Water Basin Totem is a monumental installation that demonstrates the power of reuse and draws attention to water issues in Africa. Made from recycled construction materials and inspired by everyday water basins from West African households, the piece invites visitors to reflect on our collective use of water and plastic.

The Water Basin Totem
© Sandia Nassila

TOUCHING CELLULOSE_sense of crafting

Join in building a biobased future.

EduCrafting Pavilion is an evolving installation where you and fellow visitors build a pavilion from wood, hempcrete, and cellulose. Through workshops, you’ll learn about and apply circular building techniques — from modular components to traditional wood joinery. Guided by experts from TU Delft and TH Köln, you’ll discover how craftsmanship, biobased materials, and digital tools merge to shape sustainable design.