Open Call Building Talent – 18 proposals

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Sanne van de Goor is an independent artist and designer concentrating on large-scale graphic and tactile interventions. She is located in Amsterdam-Noord, where she shares a studio space with other designers. The research programme will be carried out in three nursing homes in the vicinity of the studio.

what is the challenge?
You will join Sanne in researching the relationship between architectonic elements and the emotional experience of patterns that can trigger memories. How can you offer consolation through colours and motifs? How do people experience memories as they grow older? Together you will examine the scattered sense of time experienced in nursing homes, the slumber mode in which some residents exist, the thoughts that often drift elsewhere, and the stories that resurface from the past. The collected memories and longings will be translated into a physical intervention in space. The resulting graphic installation will be installed in a nursing home.

who are you?
Sanne is seeking someone with an interest in care, social design and healing environments. Given her own graphic background, another discipline could form an inspiring complement, for instance someone with spatial, architectonic and/or investigative expertise.

opportunities?
Sanne is a strong believer in the autonomy of (young) makers. By outlining a few frameworks that you can flesh out further, it should become an interesting collaboration for both parties. Together you will work towards an on-site physical installation. The research and work process will be publicised through a website.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Artists’ collective De Onkruidenier was founded in 2013 and consists of Jonmar van Vlijmen, Rosanne van Wijk and Ronald Boer. They are active in various landscapes within and outside the Netherlands, from urban landscapes to sea views, from sinking wetlands to regenerative agrarian areas. The collective launched the programme Future Gardening — Towards Xerophile Communities in 2022. For this research, the former walled convent garden in Amstelpark serves as a test garden for experiments regarding future-proof biodiversity.

De Onkruidenier works with scientists and experts including farmers, artisans and local entrepreneurs. Collaboration partners are Zone2Source, de Waag, landscape architect Joost Emmerik and architecture historian Lara Voerman.

what is the challenge?
We will start to experience in the near future how the ‘mediterranization’ of our landscape will bring wet winters and dry, hot summers. De Onkruidenier wants to work with you to develop new scenarios for a heat-resistant city biotope. In the process you will together investigate how to design a regenerative system for a flourishing heat-resistant city nature. This should result in design tools for Future Gardening. These tools work like different lenses to examine plant communities that reveal city nature’s ability to cope with heat.

The design research will be performed in the studio and at De Onkruidenier’s Future Garden. Fieldwork into xerophile (heat-loving) species and their micro-climates will be performed in the urban setting. The garden offers room to experiment with different typologies. The collected knowledge will be elaborated further in the studio.

who are you?
De Onkruidenier is seeking a person who combines excellent design research skills with a hands-on attitude. Someone who takes an open view of the future and can contribute to speculating about how you can design through change. Affinity with climate, ecology, landscape and urban planning is a plus.

opportunities?
As the scale of De Onkruidenier’s projects is becoming steadily larger, the collective views this collaboration as a possible start to expanding their team.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Team Thursday is a graphic design agency based in Rotterdam, engaged in spatial design and book design. The studio was founded in 2012 by Loes van Esch and Simone Trum. At present the studio is collaborating with Atelier Tomas Dirrix, Koen Taselaar and others on a spatial design assignment for Kunstinstituut Melly. The team is also working on an assignment for Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and on a book for Thomas Trum.

what is the challenge?
Team Thursday wants to research with you how variable fonts can be applied in physical and digital spaces. Based on letters designed by the studio, you will probe the limits of the possible through experimentation. The experiments will be conducted on-site, so directly in relation to the space in which they will be used. What are the shapes that a variable letter can transform into? Can this ultimately result in a letter that forms a pattern, or can a letter transform into another letter? And can the variability of a letter be linked to other information, such as the passing of time in an exhibition or to the function of a space?

who are you?
Team Thursday is seeking a designer with knowledge in the field of coding and animation. Together you will determine the framework and elaboration of the research.

opportunities?
The research into variable typography will be mentored by Loes van Esch. You will have your own workspace at the studio. For Team Thursday, this project marks the start of a potential long-term collaboration, also for other projects and assignments in the longer term.

Starting date: 22 January 2024

where will you be working?
Coded Club is a design agency based in Eindhoven, founded in 2018 by Anne Veenstra and Anke van Vark. This socially engaged agency designs and produces serious games for businesses, municipal governments and museums for recruitment, onboarding, or as a playful and active tool to facilitate the transfer of complex matters. Coded Club has its office in PLAN-B, a hotspot for creative entrepreneurs, and regularly works with various freelancers both within and outside PLAN-B.

what is the challenge?
Coded Club wants to research with you how serious games can be used to address social issues in an education setting. These games aim to make players aware of important social issues and to engage them in seeking solutions. The games can serve various purposes, for instance to promote sustainability, to counter discrimination, or to encourage positive behaviour. Coded Club has already developed a prototype for the theme of sustainability. This prototype will be used to investigate the options to create a uniform coded game that can be used for various themes by means of separate inlays.

who are you?
Coded Club is seeking someone with a strong affinity for both game design and education practices. You need to be able to generate ideas that are both fun and educational, and that connect with the target group. It is essential to be aware of sensitive aspects of the theme to avoid reinforcing stereotypes or other prejudices. It is also important that you enjoy exploring the latest trends and technologies in game development.

opportunities?
This collaboration offers an excellent opportunity to participate in socially engaged work, including the implementation. The focus during this collaboration is on gaming. Coded Cub hopes you will contribute your own experience and that you can learn from each other as you work and play together. You will be left free in the design process to experience all the aspects of the work field first-hand, but will be mentored every week by Anne; a social designer and entrepreneur with over 17 years of experience. Together you will set targets, manage the planning and budgets, and coordinate your mutual expectations and responsibilities.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Founded in 1997, Observatorium is a partnership formed by artists Geert van de Camp, Andre Dekker, Lieven Poutsma and Ruud Reutelingsperger. The studio operates in the field of art in public space and placemaking. The partners work on architectural art works, artistic research projects and participation processes for locations in transition. Such locations include city squares, parks, nature areas and water fronts.

This Building Talent programme is situated in the province of Groningen, in collaboration with the University of Groningen (faculty of Spatial Sciences), Sense of Place and Het Groninger Landschap.

what is the challenge?
Observatorium wants to work with you to research the area on and around the Dampsterdiep waterway in Groningen. This canal connecting Groningen with Delfzijl is more than 1000 years old and runs through the earth tremor area. The task is to develop an ‘artistic area biography’ that weaves together different perspectives and thereby connects society, ecology and culture. The goal is to develop a vision that stimulates the imagination and that gives a face to both visible and invisible scars, and to a dreamed future.

who are you?
Observatorium is seeking a starting creative thinker with a background in spatial sciences, urban planning or landscape architecture. The candidate is preferably based in Groningen or has some connection with the area concerned.

opportunities?
The studio has extensive experience with regard to integrating art and landscape, and ecology and the life environment. The team is happy to share their network and knowledge in the field with a starter who is interested in transition challenges and in their work method.

The programme consists of performing a site exploration, analyses, sketches, designing, reflection, discussions and presentations. You will get to know the sizeable field of stakeholders, and the final result will be presented at a festive occasion to the province of Groningen, Nationaal Programma Groninger, Groninger Landschap, B&W EemsDollard and Atelier Rijksbouwmeesters.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Kairos Furniture was founded end-2020 by three impact-committed creatives with the goal of developing a radically sustainable sofa, designed according to circular principles. With a low footprint, a long lifetime, modular structure and production in the Netherlands, they aim to set a new standard.

The company is located at the Hof van Cartesius, the best-known green workplace for creative and sustainable entrepreneurs in Utrecht, built according to circular principles. They frequently work with knowledge partners in the field of sustainable innovation, materials and production.

what is the challenge?
One of the areas where Kairos Furniture can have an impact is product packaging. At present, furniture is almost always packaged in plastic foil, cardboard and styrofoam, held together using sticky tape. All these materials are used just once and, in the best case, collected as separable waste. In this Building Talent project you will work with Kairos Furniture to develop a new kind of packaging. This is not so much a design challenge, but of a more technical and functional nature. An understanding of use conditions, creativity, and knowledge of materials and production come together here.

who are you?
This project is for technical designers wishing to contribute in the field of sustainability. The company is seeking someone with knowledge of materials, production and construction, and preferably (though not necessarily) with specific knowledge of packaging.

opportunities?
Kairos Furniture wants to conduct this research as much as possible as a joint effort. During the project you will learn from the company’s considerable experience in the field of designing consumer products, particularly in the world of interiors. Personal supervision will be tailored to your own experience and to the complexity of the process.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
House of Thol has existed since 2014 and is based in natural settings near Nijmegen. Here, designers Thomas Linssen and Jana Flohr work on design solutions for a daily eco-friendly life, with the goal of encouraging as many people as possible to adopt sustainable behaviour. They have successfully brought various products to market, under their own management. House of Thol is committed to affordable in-country production. The latter aspect in particular poses a challenge, which the designers are eager to address.

what is the challenge?
Our shops are full of products that are sold in large numbers for low prices. Except Dutch Design, which tends to be far from sustainable and certainly not Made in Holland. Is this still tolerable, in the current day and age? House of Thol wonders whether it would be possible to serially produce a product in the Netherlands that can be marketed at an affordable price. Together with you, House of Thol wants to map out the Dutch manufacturing industry and to investigate to what extent a collaboration between this industry and Dutch designers is feasible. In addition, the agency wants to develop starting points for products that are truly Made in Holland.

who are you?
House of Thol wishes to collaborate with an inventive maker with a passion for developing sustainable, behaviour-changing products. Someone who likes to tinker in the workplace, but also loves to do thorough research. You also need to be able to participate in talks with representatives of the manufacturing industry, in a professional and diplomatic manner.

opportunities?
You will contribute to consolidating the connection between Dutch designers and the Dutch manufacturing industry, and will be able to build contacts with new local production experts as an independent designer.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Lab03 is a versatile architectural office that combines a sober, characteristic and purposeful approach with a strong sense of affinity with people and their environment. Over the past 20 years, the office has worked on a wide range of projects: from sustainable private dwellings to a circular wooden apartment building, and from a town hall subsidiary office to an artisan visitors’ centre at a historical site.

what is the challenge?
Under European regulations, from 2027 the footprint of materials will carry more weight when measuring a building’s environmental performance. This will play an important role in the scaling-up of ecological building materials. There are still strides to be made in the Netherlands with respect to bio-based construction, particularly in multi-storey construction projects. In this collaboration, you will join Lab03 in exploring construction with ecological materials on a larger scale level. Based on analyses of mid-sized projects in neighbouring countries that are already more familiar with bio-based construction, together you will seek sustainable, affordable and practicable construction techniques. In this programme you will work with Wouter de Haas, owner of Lab03 Architecten. Chrith Architecten (circular and ecological builders) will act as adviser.

who are you?
Lab03 is seeking internationally oriented architects who are eager to join the investigation into construction using ecological materials on a large scale level. In order to advance this project, an investigative attitude is essential. It also demands some architectural knowledge, as well as sound analytical skills.

opportunities?
This collaboration offers an excellent opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the transition to bio-based building in the construction industry. Compiling a library of usable materials is part of the project. The final result will be published to contribute to the wider acceptance and normalisation of using ecological products in multi-storey construction.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Monobanda is an award-winning studio with 15 years of experience in making interactive art installations. The studio explores and expands the boundaries of games and interaction, in the intersecting field between art, science and education. Based in Utrecht’s creative hotspot Vechtclub XL, Monobanda usually works with a multidisciplinary team of visual artists, musicians, programmers, researchers and art education experts.

what is the challenge?

Music is a powerful means to express emotions and to bring people together, yet many people find making music a challenge. That is why Monobanda aims to develop an interactive art education installation named You Beat AI with which anyone, regardless of background or skills, can learn how to create a song in a playful manner. This way, the studio wants making music to become more accessible and at the same time to introduce young target groups to AI technology.

who are you?
Since this project is all about music and AI, it would be an advantage if you have some experience in this field. However, you do not need to be a musician or AI expert.

opportunities?
As a starting designer, you can contribute to this experimental project from draft to prototype, and immediately find out in practice how the target group responds to this by means of play tests. It will be a unique learning experience, since the design can be applied right away.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Envisions was established in 2016 by a collective of designers with a shared fascination for materials. The size of the team ranges from six to ten people of different disciplines. Since its establishment, Envisions has developed its own approach based on experimental material research and exhibitions, with the focus primarily on the process. The team does so in collaboration with a diverse range of international brands and businesses. In the 250m2 studio in Eindhoven, each person has its own workspace. Materials, tools and machines are available in the open shared space.

what is the challenge?
Over the past years, Envisions has developed a materials archive with more than 500 valuable samples. This archive is the starting point for the quest to determine how we can and also wish to shape the places we live and work in, in tomorrow’s world. An analysis of the archive should result in three to five directions towards a circular product collection whose production is fully transparent. Key criteria are timelessness, tactility and new materiality, plus high-quality finishing, detail and refinement.

who are you?
Envisions is seeking a designer with a focus on product development and a critical attitude to product design and the current product landscape. Making models and prototypes in collaboration with the team will be an important part of the design phase. For that reason, knowledge of dimensioning and hands-on skills are essential. Experience with material and experimental research is less important. Knowledge of (alternative) production forms, technical production drawings and constructions would be an advantage.

opportunities?

As a starting designer, you will contribute to a project aimed at convincing the furniture industry and manufacturers that innovative applications can be developed through experimental research. By making the transition tangible, the sluggish and largely unimaginative furniture industry will hopefully take the urgently needed steps towards a sustainable future.

[BE1]“door transitie tastbaar te maken”: welke transitie? Moet in elk geval een lidwoord bij…

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Cocosmos is a young agency consisting of five design researchers and six designers. The agency concentrates on societal issues, both in the spatial and social domain, under the motto ‘we make the city together’. Its clients are mainly municipal authorities and housing associations, but also developers.

what is the challenge?
It is increasingly becoming a matter of course for residents to participate in the development of their city. However, the current procedures can be improved. Cocosmos believes that designers can and should make participation more inclusive. Together with you, the agency aims to further explore this new territory, where social design, urban development and policy-making intersect.

who are you?
The entire Cocosmos team has a technical university background, and the agency is seeking someone to complement the team in terms of expertise. This could for instance be someone with knowledge of and/or affinity with marketing or data science. Visualization, communication and analytical skills would go well with this challenge.

opportunities?
As a starting designer at Cocosmos, you will have lots of room and responsibility to show initiative. Supervision will concentrate on strategic aspects, as well as on reflecting on the changing role of social designers.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Under the name Prinsen.Studio, animation and motion designer Udo Prinsen has twenty years of experience in the field of directing and producing animations for a wide range of media, museums, musicians, film and television producers. Prinsen follows an investigative approach, focusing on analogue and digital animation techniques. Performance and music also play a prominent role in his work. Udo Prinsen has a one-man business, but composes compact teams for specific productions. In this collaboration, too, you will be part of a small team.

what is the challenge?
What does an interactive performance product look like that maximally enhances the experience of music, and that ties together music, design and education? To answer this question, you will participate in an interactive visual experiment and will talk with the conductors of large orchestras and smaller ensembles. You will work with Prinsen to develop an interactive object that converts the motions and expressions of conductors into moving images. The projection of these animations will interpret and enhance the musical emotion that the conductor wishes to convey to the audience through the orchestra.

who are you?
Udo Prinsen is seeking a designer with creative coding skills. Affinity with animation and a broad musical taste are an advantage.

opportunities?
The intention is to develop a long-term collaboration on equal terms. You will gain knowledge and experience in the field of digital technique, network and organization. Besides getting to know the sector more intimately, there is also much to learn from the back-up provided by creative coding specialists who will also be involved in the project.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Bas Kosters Studio is an interdisciplinary art and design studio that stands for an inclusive and safe society, centred on people and their emotions. The studio’s social engagement is pursued with humour and friction. The main focus is on textile, drawing and print design, but also on art installations, design objects and art objects of glass and ceramics. The studio is located in Kunststad NDSM (Amsterdam-Noord) and often collaborates with freelancers and interns.

what is the challenge?
Bas Kosters’ works are often tactile, with a clear vision on materials and signature. This makes the work recognisable and revealing of the maker’s personality. Given his growing interest in the digital world, Bas wishes to investigate how his work could be translated into digital expressions. The goal is to design the digital work as a spatial experience, rather than as just a work you look at.

who are you?
Bas Kosters is seeking a digital maker or animator who is eager to learn from the studio’s work and to contribute to it. In this process, your artistic visions can interact and reinforce each other.

opportunities?
In this process you will be mentored by Bas. He will share his artistic work methods with you, as well as a network through which to hopefully display the project. Together you will determine the course of the project and formulate the assignment. By regularly exchanging views, closely monitoring the project, and in the meantime discussing its possible end point, Bas hopes that the project will proceed according to a pleasant and natural flow.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Buro Belén is an Amsterdam-based design studio, founded by Brecht Duijf and Lenneke Langenhuijsen, dedicated to materials research, material application and creative management. In collaboration with craftsmen, creatives, scientists, institutions and industrial partners, they create spaces, products and textiles with an emphasis on placemaking. Each of these products includes a profound desire for more sustainable, enchanting living environments. Buro Belén approaches interiors as living, breathing environments: as beings.

what is the challenge?
The project explores the nomadic dwelling through the ages, around the world. The emphasis is on soft, flexible, contemporary structures. Heavy, solid architecture carries high environmental costs: it is highly inefficient in terms of energy, production, transportation and recycling. Rethinking tents as an alternative to the traditional home paves a path to a more sustainable way of building. Together with you, Belén wants to explore the possibilities of soft walls in terms of insulation, acoustics/privacy, employability/reusability, natural light/transparency and tactility.

who are you?
Buro Belén is looking for someone who is strongly attracted to the topic and can research and develop it. Someone with a talent for ideation and concept thinking. The ideal candidate has an analytical and structured way of thinking, is a careful researcher and an avid reader. The studio is looking for someone with a distinct visual talent, good graphic design skills and an excellent command of Adobe Suite. In addition, you must be able to make surprising connections and dare to use your imagination.

opportunities?
Buro Belén offers insight into their working methods: how they structure their research and develop their work. You get the chance to experience how design translations emerge naturally in a well-organized workflow. There is value for both you and the studio in organizing the findings and imagining their potential implications for the project. You are encouraged to map out steps toward production and make contact with potential collaboration partners. You will be given the opportunity to explore the subject in an open, creative way, with space to take initiative and set your own project direction, without losing sight of Belén's ethos.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Hellen van Rees is a fashion and textile design studio in Enschede. The studio has a slow-fashion collection and concentrates on product innovations in the field of circularity, health and well-being. Adding value to materials and products and the added value for customers are central to Van Rees’s practice.

what is the challenge?

In the project Going Circular Going Cellulose, in collaboration with the ArtEZ professorships of Fashion and Product design, Hellen van Rees has adopted a material-based working method. The next step is to work with you to further develop the knowledge into a practicable system that allows (textile) products to be composed in a flexible and detailed manner. This process must take account of the technical properties of the material, to avoid limiting the possibilities for recycling. The materials are not selected by the designer but by the collaborating weaving mill, which adds a further challenge.

who are you?
Hellen van Rees is seeking a designer who loves a puzzle that requires knotting together technical possibilities and limitations with aesthetics and elaborated products.

opportunities?
You will learn all about circular design during the process. In addition to the productional aspects of the design process, there will be ample attention of the entrepreneurial side. You will also learn about ‘extended producer responsibility’ (uitgebreide producentenverantwoordelijkheid, UPV), which will have a lot of impact on designing textile products in the future.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Fillip Studios, founded by designer Roos Meerman and artist Tom Kortbeek, develops artistic concepts and performs design research. The studio seeks to create impact by working from a sense of wonder. To do so it collaborates with universities, knowledge centres, museums and the corporate world.

what is the challenge?
Fillip Studios wants to work with you to investigate the architectonic possibilities offered by two previous projects by studio, Aera Fabrica and Adaptable Auxetic. Aera Fabrica is a technique with which 3D printed objects are inflated using heat, so that their volume increases. By reheating the objects, they shrink back to their original shape. Adaptable Auxetics is a technique with which an algorithm can develop optimised auxetic structures. This structure has the remarkable property of growing in width when stretched length-wise.
The challenge for this project combines design research, digital design, and building prototypes and scale models.

who are you?
Fillip Studios is seeking a starting architect or building expert with knowledge of 3D printing. A familiarity with other digital design techniques would be appreciated.

opportunities?
Fillip Studios is eager to exchange expertise and to arrive at new insights, for the benefit of both parties. The collaboration could lead to new inspiration and a further expansion of both parties’ networks.

Starting date: 1 February 2024

where will you be working?
Founded by Laura Luchtman in 2010, Kukka is a versatile design studio concentrating on textile and surface design. Experimentation, innovation and sustainability are the key elements in this Rotterdam-based studio. Besides performing commissioned work, Kukka also devotes much time to design research regarding a wide range of social, ecological and cultural themes.

what is the challenge?
It has become increasingly common to use 3D design or visualisation techniques within fashion and architecture, but not so much yet in the field of textile design. The current 3D software mainly serves to visualise items of clothing, objects and products. When doing so, you can choose from a library of existing materials, including textile. Kukka wants to work with you to develop a design method to visualise woven textile in 3D, making use of existing 3D effects and programs, open source tools and perhaps AI.

who are you?
Kukka is seeking a starting digital maker or developer with an interest in and knowledge of 3D modelling. Knowledge of creative coding would also be useful. You are not required to be familiar with weaving or textile.

opportunities?
It is a challenge to visualise tactile material in such a way that you can almost feel it. In this project you will gain experience with various textile techniques, the design and production process.

Summum - Supply and Demand! Circular designing based on given stock?

where will you be working?
Summum Engineering is a structural design, engineering and optimisation consultancy, based in Rotterdam. It operates in the domains of architecture, engineering and construction, as well as industrial design and art. Summum was founded in 2017 on the conviction that, through continued exchange and progress in science and technology, the built environment can serve people and their well-being, as well as our planet. Towards this end, Summum is pro-active in seeking a clientele and portfolio in support of a shared vision for a sustainable and durable built environment.

what is the challenge?
Summum Engineering has pioneered real-time connections between parametric design software and several online marketplaces for reclaimed building materials. But based on a given stock of reclaimed, circular elements, how would one approach the design of a building structure? And how does one bridge the gap in time between design and construction? The collaboration will consist of a design task (designing Dutch residential housing with our live data on circular elements) and a research task (exploring how the logistics and economics of this method play out in practice, and how it affects the design process).

who are you?
Some experience with designing from given, natural or found materials would be highly relevant. You should have some skills, affinity or interest in computational design, to keep the learning curve modest at the start of the collaboration. When designing and developing concepts based on novel technology, your creativity thrives in the presence of technical constraints. Ideally, you have an interest in or knowledge of the larger context in which the design work takes place (the Dutch circular construction industry and economy).

opportunities?
Designing for Dutch housing, while developing a conceptual framework for this type of design work, would increase our understanding of what is needed in the future for circular construction. Your work will help disseminate the technical work that has been done so far, making it more tangible to a larger audience.