TU Delft at Dutch Design Week 2021
Up Close & Personal, the DRIVE Festival & more!
Dutch Design Week (DDW): it's one of the highlights of the European design calendar and an event in which TU Delft plays a prominent role. This year’s Dutch Design Week takes place between 16-24 October. And after a purely digital DDW in 2020, Design United is back – live and in-person across Eindhoven. Unable to attend the event in person? Not to worry, because there are plenty of ways you can experience DDW digitally.
Projects from the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) are represented each year by Design United, an initiative showcasing design research from the Netherlands’ four universities of technology (4TU). This year, thousands of design enthusiasts will flock to Eindhoven to experience the work and ideas of thousands of designers – many of whom come from IDE.
TU Delft’s contribution to Dutch Design Week is represented at multiple in-person and online events throughout the week – including Design United’s Up Close and Personal week-long event and CLICKNL’s DRIVE Festival. Below you can find a roundup of IDE exhibitions, talks, and more at this year’s Dutch Design Week.
Up Close and Personal (18 – 22 October)
After a year of inspiring and thought-provoking design research it is time to get Up Close and Personal again! This polymorphous Design United event at the Dutch Design Week zooms in on design-research projects from the Netherlands’ four technical universities and asks what role design can play in tackling five big themes. This year’s themes include Entangled Ecologies, Connected Interactions, Changing Things, Embedded Designers, and Evolving Methodologies.
Presented live from the Effenaar, Isolde Hallensleben and a new generation of designers will be discussing thought-provoking designs. What are their ideas and visions regarding the role of design in our future? Which ethical dilemmas do they face? How might they solve them?
Have a Dutch Design Week ticket and want to attend an Up Close and Personal talk show in person? Make sure you register before 16 October, as there are limited seats available in the audience. Scan the QR code to secure your spot today. Can’t join in person? Join the livestream every afternoon from 15:00-16:00 between 18-22 October.
In addition to the shows, you can also find a selection of top design research projects exhibited in the Klokgebouw, Eindhoven from 16 - 24 October. Or you can explore the Up Close & Personal e-magazine to learn more about the various design projects presented at this year’s Up Close and Personal.
Use the tabs below to read more detailed day-by-day information, including which IDE faculty members will take part in the event.
Entangled Ecologies
Monday 18 October | 15:00 – 16:00
Designers, processes, and the products they produce originate and function within natural, social, and technological ecologies. Modern designs cannot be singled out, they are always connected and entangled. This challenges designers to identify interdependencies within and across worldly phenomena and find ways to address them together. A key role in this theme is played by the material of design: from living organic materials, to digital and speculative materials, we show how they create new entanglements and lead to unforeseen results.
Featured on the talk show: Course editor Riel Bessai, Professor Ruud Balkenende, and lecturer/researcher Erik Jepma will discuss their Unito: products made from CO2 project.
Featured at the exhibit in the Klokgebouw as well as at the Sustainability at Scale(s) exhibition: The above-mentioned project
Featured in the e-magazine: The above-mentioned project
For more information about Entangled Ecologies and how to watch the talk show online, click here.
Connected Interactions
Tuesday 19 October | 15:00 – 16:00
Watch the livestream here.
A consequence of ecological thinking in design is that interactions have both local and global implications. The theme Connected Interactions brings home the idea that interacting with something can be meaningful for a particular time and place or can be alien to it, has an impact on other interactions taking place, and can even transcend particular situations, producing effects beyond the local circumstances.
The curator of this event is IDE Assistant Professor Jacky Bourgeois.
For more information about Connected Interactions, click here.
Changing Things
Wednesday 20 October | 15:00 – 16:00
Watch the livestream here.
Many ‘things’ that designers envision and make are no longer singular but plural: things with multiple identities and material substrates. Organic living material combined with digital material, assemblages of human and artificial intelligences, blends of machines and meanings. How does this plurality challenge our perceptions of things and which tools and techniques do designers have at their disposal to craft them?
Featured on the talk show: IDE postdoctoral researcher Patrizia d’Olivo will discuss her MrV The Spaceman project.
Featured in the exhibit at the Klokgebouw: IDE Assistant Professor Holly McQuillan with her project Critical Textile Topologies and IDE alumni Frederik Ueberschär with his project Landshapes
Featured in the E-magazine: The above-mentioned projects, as well as IPD MSc student Atula Jadhav’s The Lily Pad Project and IPD MSc graduate Resy Aarts’ The puzzle of electrochromism project.
For more information about Changing Things and how to watch the talk show online, click here.
Embedded Designer
In-Person Event: Wednesday 20 October | 17:30 - 18:30
Livestream: Thursday 21 October | 15:00 – 16:00
(Note: They will film the talk show on Wednesday and live stream it on Thursday)
Watch the livestream here.
How are designers embedded in the ecologies in which they design and intend to transform? Their mere presence is not neutral. How do they choose their position? How do they deal with situations in which they find themselves, and how do they enable change: from within or from the outside, as humble catalysts, or as outspoken activists?
The curator of this event is IDE Assistant Professor Milene Guerreiro Goncalves.
Featured in the E-magazine: IDE SPD MSc graduate Maria Buckenmayer’s Fruitful Friction project
For more information about Embedded Designers and how to watch the talk show online, click here.
Evolving Methodologies
In-Person Event: Thursday 21 October | 15:00 – 16:00
Livestream: Friday 22 October | 15:00 – 16:00
(Note: They will film the talk show on Thursday and live stream it on Friday)
Watch the livestream here.
Design as a discipline is evolving and so are the collective methods, tools, and techniques that constitute it. How can design become a more mature field of research and practice, while facing increasingly complex challenges that require its methodologies to continuously and rapidly evolve? How can design collaborate with other disciplines in cross-domain problem spaces, while maintaining its own identity? And what roles are emerging for designers, to integrate different forms of knowing and to intervene in contested issues?
Featured on the talk show: IDE PhD candidate Niya Stoimenova’s Responsible AI project
Featured in the exhibit in the Klokgebouw: IDE guest researcher and former PhD student Elise Talgorn’s Use of Stories as Boundary Objects project
E-magazine: IDE SPD graduate Adriaan van Wijk’s From Garbage Patch to Ocean Product project
For more information about Evolving Methodologies and how to watch the talk show online, click here.
DRIVE Festival (18 – 22 Oct)
Together with Design United – the 4TU, CLINKNL has put together the Design Research & Innovation Festival (DRIVE Festival). It is a hybrid and interactive event that can be enjoyed in person or from the comfort of your home.
At the DRIVE festival research projects at the interface of knowledge and innovation will take the stage from 10:30 – 11:30 daily between the 18th to 22nd of October.
Design United, CLICKNL, the World Design Embassies, as well as designers, researchers, and other organisations, will present on the state of art research, design, and innovation in connection with the event’s five themes: Mobility, Circular and Biobased Building, Health, Safety, and Food/Water.
Day 1 will focus on designing for/with conflicting use of space in the living environment and freedom of movement for all parts of society.
On the first day of the DRIVE Festival, the TU Delft Mobility|Society will be hosting a work session called, ‘Mobility | Society, a new approach to mobility’. It will be led by IDE designer/researcher Costanza Milano and lecturer Elmer van Grondelle. The session promises to be fast paced and interactive, consisting of three main parts – a debate session, mapping workshop, and reflection period. To find out more about their DRIVE WORK session, click here.
Attending the event from home? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to watch the show online, click here.
Want to attend a DRIVE '21 day live and in-person? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to attend in-person, click here. (Please note: You will need a Dutch Design Week ticket in order to attend the DRIVE Festival).
To learn more about the different DRIVE WORK sessions happening on this day, click here.
Day 2 will focus on designing (for) a circular economy while at the same time dealing with challenges such as health, human waste, and value scaling.
Attending the event from home? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to watch the show online, click here.
Want to attend a DRIVE '21 day live and in-person? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to attend in-person, click here. (Please note: You will need a Dutch Design Week ticket is order to attend the DRIVE Festival).
To learn more about the different DRIVE WORK sessions happening on this day, click here.
Day 3 will focus on where we want to further explore which methods ensure that healthcare providers and patients are more involved in the healthcare system of the future, and what this could look like. You can listen to talks by several speakers including:
Ingeborg Griffioen and Jasper Brands: ‘Metromapping’
IDE PhD candidate, visiting Professor, and founder of Panton Ingeborg Griffioen and IDE alumnus and creative director of Panton Jasper Brands will discuss Metro Mapping, a service design method developed to support shared decision-making in oncology.
Dirk Snelders: Cardiolab
IDE Professor Dirk Snelders will take the stage to talk about CardioLab, which is a collaboration between Philips Design and TU Delft. Collaboratively, through CardioLab, they explore how smart technologies can reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases.
Attending the event from home? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to watch the show online, click here.
Want to attend a DRIVE '21 day live and in-person? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to attend in-person, click here. (Please note: You will need a Dutch Design Week ticket is order to attend the DRIVE Festival).
To learn more about the different DRIVE WORK sessions happening on this day, click here.
Day 4 will focus on the prevention of the undermining of the rule of law, both online and offline. About design against fake news, for an inclusive society in which everyone feels positively involved, and about design as a tool for the work of various security professionals. You can listen to talks by several speakers including:
Jeroen van Erp (Fabrique): ‘Bubble Games, a project to counter polarization’
IDE Professor Jeroen van Erp will discuss Bubble Games – a project aimed at creating understanding for each other’s situations through VR/AR. This project is a collaboration between Fabrique, TU Delft, Fontys, and the municipality of Eindhoven and is sponsored by ASML, among others.
Attending the event from home? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to watch the show online, click here.
Want to attend a DRIVE '21 day live and in-person? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to attend in-person, click here. (Please note: You will need a Dutch Design Week ticket is order to attend the DRIVE Festival).
To learn more about the different DRIVE WORK sessions happening on this day, click here.
Day 5 focuses on designing for healthy food environments, motivating healthy and sustainable behaviors and making complex data manageable in order to arrive at individual choices.
Attending the event from home? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to watch the show online, click here.
Want to attend a DRIVE '21 day live and in-person? For more information about the day's speakers, events, and how to attend in-person, click here. (Please note: You will need a Dutch Design Week ticket is order to attend the DRIVE Festival).
To learn more about the different DRIVE WORK sessions happening on this day, click here.
Other IDE-focused projects / events at DDW
'Designing Smart Objects in Everyday Life'
Friday 22 October | 16:00 – 17:00
What happens when your doorbell starts talking to your thermostat behind your back? When your fridge decides to add items to your weekly shopping list? When your favourite jumper, the kitchen table, and the kettle seem to manifest signs of digital personality?
TU Delft’s Marco C. Rozendaal, Central Saint Martins’ Betti Marenko and Simon Fraser University’s William Odom will be celebrating the publication of Bloomsbury’s 'Designing Smart Objects in Everyday Life' at the Historic Pavilion in Eindhoven.
Embassy of Mobility – Conference
20 October | 14:00 - 16:00
“Mobility is a necessity, not a goal. You depend on it to get the care you need, to get to work, or to relax with your family. And there are many more examples.”
On 20 October from 14:00 – 16:00 at the Klokgebouw, IDE Professor of Mobility Design Matthijs van Dijk will lead the Embassy of Mobility – Conference at DDW. The World Design Embassies’ conference will look at how we can correct design errors in mobility and come up with more viable forms of it. To learn more about the event and how to attend, click here.
Sustainability at Scale (s) Exhibition
16-24 October | 11-18:00
Innovation Powerhouse, Eindhoven
This exhibition aims to highlight designers working in the local tissue of cities & social communities as well as the global impact one can have working for large international brands. Two projects from IDE are highlighted, namely recent alumnus, Martin Steffner’s Airguard Circular Ski-Helmet and Unito, by Riel Bessai.
Data-Centric Design Lab Workshop
The Data-Centric Design Lab is organising two workshops at this year's Dutch Design Week. They will take place 18 & 19 October (11:00 - 12:00 CEST) at the CoffeeLab, Eindhoven. During the workshops, participants will delve into the practices and challenges of bringing behavioural data (e.g. location, physical activity, habits) into the design process. The workshop will be led by IDE Assistant Professor Jacky Bourgeois and PhD candidate Alejandra Gomez. If you are interested in the intersection of data and design and have experience working with behavioural data, sign up today.
More TU Delft projects at DDW
Please click for more TU Delft projects which are on show at the DDW, including sustainable circular partition walls made of mycelium. Also a glass truss construction to make pressure and tension forces visible is currently on display.
