April 2024 • Exhibition Design • Made for : Vienna Design Week

Design with a Purpose

→ Exhibition Design inspiring visitors to consider design's role in addressing environmental challenges. "Design with a Purpose" showcases over 20 contributions that highlight sustainable design solutions.

Industrial-style exhibition room with various objects on metal tables, illuminated by lamps. — Design with a Purpose exhibiton design

About the Exhibition

The exhibition "Design with a Purpose", which we were commissioned to design, is part of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK on behalf of the first Vienna Climate Biennale. It took place in repurposed halls of the Austrian Federal Railways. The exhibition features over 20 contributions grouped into the categories "Telling Stories," "Rethinking Connections," and "Producing Responsibly."

The Role of Design

Design, the creation of products, plays a crucial role in sustaining our environmentally harmful consumption habits. However, the work of designers can also be a key to an ecologically and socially sustainable lifestyle. "Design with a Purpose" showcases examples of how design can take responsibility, even though it is a tool developed in the course of the planet's destruction.

Industrial-style exhibition room with a aluminium chair on a metal plinth, illuminated by lamps.

Paths to Sustainability

The objects and projects presented by "Design with a Purpose" shape ways to handle materials, energy, and people with respect, without relying on exploitation. They tell stories and create connections instead of merely inviting superficial consumption. They challenge existing systems with fresh solutions – all while maintaining a focus on aesthetics and functionality. From everyday objects to crafts and the food sector, "Design with a Purpose" brings together over 20 positions developed in the context of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. Without claiming to present a solution to the climate crisis, the examples shown demonstrate that design can be responsible, sustainable, and inspiring.

Space Utilization

We were entrusted with the exhibition design and the creation of the graphic design. The setting was an old paint shop characterized by rhythmically placed neon tubes and two large long grids running along the room. In the conceptual phase, we decided to reference the space in our design, making the room a carrier of the exhibition objects without stripping it of its original character. For this, we developed a grid system that visually extruded the existing grids and allowed them to grow modularly into the space.

Wireframe view from a CAD software showing an exhibtion space — CAD Snapshot

Modular Design

The design took form in modules. Each module functioned both as a pedestal and as a support for peripherals such as lighting and information signs. In addition to free-standing modules with heights of 40 and 80 cm, there were L-shaped tables that were 90 cm high and significantly longer, mounted to the wall on one side. Their 1:2 format allowed these modules to be ideally arranged into more complex landscapes. By skillfully placing the modules in the room, we achieved a division into thematic areas and a kind of circuit that, while repeatedly open to allow free movement in the space, still created a certain directional guidance to facilitate easier reception.

Rendered view from a CAD software showing an a modular grid placement — modular grid

Rough Sketch showing two modules, a lighting fixture and measurements — early sketches

Construction and Adaptability

These modules were assembled from square steel tubes with matching corner connectors. Adjustable feet ensured correct alignment on the damaged industrial floor. Custom-made brackets attached galvanized steel grids, visually referencing those on the floor, to the steel frames. These grids formed a new grid for which we designed and produced our own fittings, allowing the information and lighting level, as well as other add-ons like headphone holders and screen mounts, to be added easily and modularly.

Close up image of 3d-printed part on a steel tube fixed with a set screw — print clamp with set screw

Close up image of a 3d printed headphone hook — headphone hook

Picture of a screen and headphones mounted on a 1m by 50cm steel grid — screen assembly

Graphic Design Elements

We also played with the character of the paint shop on the design of graphic desgign elements. During our inspection, we noticed colorful paint sprays on the walls, likely from testing spray guns. We coded the thematic areas "Telling Stories," "Rethinking Connections," and "Producing Responsibly" in primary colors. In the center of these areas, we deliberately pasted large posters on the walls, resembling the paint splashes, with stylized gradients in the respective category colors. Smaller signs describing the individual objects also featured gradients in these colors, making it easy to assign projects. The large overview poster, also pasted on the wall, contained color gradients from all three categories.

Close up image of text elements that were slid onto steel tubes — Text elements were slid onto the modularly placed tubes

Close up showing a wrinkled poster with some text and red paint splashes — detail of the roughly glued section posters

Reflective Elements

To add an element of contrast, we introduced seven spherical mirrors in various sizes and designs. These mirrors, some up to one meter in diameter, became popular photo spots. Due to their convex shape, the entire exhibition naturally appeared in every photo taken. Conceptually, they played on the idea of reflection in a space where design is invited to critically examine itself. The stringent linear grid of the room, derived from the tiled walls, the rhythmic arrangement of the lamps, and the straightly laid conduits, was disrupted by the mirrors, which were clearly distinct elements. In their reflections, not a single straight line existed.

Close-up shots of a 1-meter convex traffic mirror mounted just above the ground An image showing a urine-diverting toilet and a large poster with text and paint splashes in primary colors.