Local Resources and New Building Methods at Dutch Design Week 2026

At Dutch Design Week 2026, taking place in Eindhoven from 17–25 October, designers explore how different material choices can reshape construction. Projects range from unfired earth bricks and wetland biomass to irregular timber, recycled plastic façades and lower-carbon concrete. Together, they connect material research with questions about sourcing, processing and architectural application.

Building From the Landscape

Dirty Works, presented by CoolBricks, brings material development onto the exhibition floor. During the event, visitors help construct a pavilion using 2,750 unfired earth bricks and around ten tonnes of rammed earth. The cement-free bricks combine Dutch soil, cow dung, fibres and other biobased ingredients. The installation reveals the practical work behind developing alternative building materials, from testing mixtures to assembling structures.

WETHOUSE, by Yvonne Gu / 3h57m, examines another connection between landscape and construction. The project explores plants cultivated on wet or rewetted land, including reed, cattail, sedge and willow. These resources offer possibilities for insulation, wall panels, woven screens and clay-fibre composites. Presented as a partial greenhouse pavilion, WETHOUSE connects architectural materials with rainwater collection, plant cultivation and wetland regeneration.

Working With What Grows

RawTimber, led by architect and researcher Kevin Moreno Gata, challenges the preference for straight, standardised timber. Branches, forks and curved sections of tree crowns often become firewood or fuel. Through 3D scanning, computational design and fabrication, the project investigates how their natural geometries can inform furniture and architectural structures. A full-scale bench demonstrates this approach using minimally processed crown wood.

Farming Future Foundations brings a similar material-led approach to agricultural resources. Product Design students from the Willem de Kooning Academy investigate miscanthus, flax and paulownia through harvesting, processing, shaping and testing. Their experiments and prototypes explore how locally grown resources can guide design decisions while connecting farmers, landscapes and workshops.

Rethinking Familiar Building Materials

At Paviljoen BLOK, Pretty Plastic presents its Basic Third façade tile. Developed for modular, prefabricated buildings, the tile extends the company’s work with recycled PVC into applications where material reuse meets adaptable construction.

SANDBAG CASTLE, by artist Yvonne Mak, focuses on concrete. Hundreds of concrete forms resembling sandbags create a castle surrounded by water. The installation brings together more than ten approaches to reducing concrete’s environmental impact, including alternative binders, recycled aggregates, CO₂ utilisation and self-healing technologies. It asks how existing material options can become part of everyday building practice.

Across these projects, construction becomes a question of understanding available resources and choosing how to work with them. Some proposals remain experimental; others present materials developed for practical application. Their shared contribution is to make the relationship between material origin, processing and design more visible.

Source and photos via Dutch Design Week