Design is not only about solving problems. Despite all the good intentions and visionary ideas, design is also part of the problem. Vienna Design Week aims to counter this with “local and international solutions and questions, both experimental and applied, across disciplines”, says Gabriel Roland, director of Vienna Design Week. Austria’s largest curated design festival will once again celebrate “the joy of design and its power of transformation and storytelling”. From 20 to 29 September, the festival will offer a “city full of design”, which will navigate through the city, addressing local conditions, involving local actors, offering relevant solutions and connecting the local design scene both nationally and internationally.

This year’s focus is on the third district of Vienna, Landstraße. The festival’s headquarters will be in a new building in the “Docks” of Austrian Real Estate, rather than in a temporary space as in previous years. The third district, located in the southeastern centre of the city, was established in 1850 through the annexation of former suburbs and is the only district in the expanded city centre with its outer boundary further from the Gürtel, rather than at it. While the area is characterised by commercial, industrial, and residential zones, it also features landmarks such as the Hochstrahlbrunnen, the Belvedere Palace, the Hundertwasserhaus, and the Arsenal, as well as embassies, palaces, and cultural institutions ranging from the Concert Hall to the Arena.

This year’s Design Week will once again include long-standing formats developed over 18 years of festival history, such as “Passionswege” (dialogues between craft and design), “Stadtarbeit” (social design for Vienna), and “Urban Food & Design” (material innovation and resource management). The “Re:Form” format will bring together design, management consulting, and industry for the second time. Various events, including talks, tours, openings, workshops, and numerous contributions by external partners for the “Platform,” will complement the diverse formats. Among the exhibitions and events at the festival headquarters will be an installation created in collaboration with IKEA, exploring the impact of design on sleep and creatively engaging with IKEA products, as well as the “Moving Materials” competition by Rado in the field of motion design. The campaign motifs “with very much sunshine in the heart,” which play with urban realities, are designed by Bueronardin.