Downtime Design 2020: The Shape Of Things To Come

Spotlighting shifting attitudes towards how we will engage with our surroundings post COVID, Downtown Design’s multi-media exhibition will showcase exploratory work from 28 of the region’s most inspiring architecture and interior design studios, demonstrating the breadth and expertise of regional design talent.

The pandemic has challenged long-established models of societal interaction, placing new demands on our built environment and spotlighting issues that need our attention.

Highlighting the regional design industry’s response to the shifting attitudes towards how we will engage with our surroundings and the evolving concerns of our world, Downtown Design’s multi-media exhibition, ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ will showcase exploratory and future work from Middle East based architects and interior designers as the conceptualise how we will live, work and play in a post-pandemic world.

With projects ranging from a house designed for isolation, a new approach to designing places of worship and malls re-imagined as cultural hubs of the future, to exploring how tech can propel design meaningfully and addressing the scope of culture and locality in providing forward-looking solutions, the selected studios will demonstrate the breadth and expertise of the region’s design talent.

Downtown Design commissioned the award-winning Dubai based architect and designer, Agata Kurzela, Founder of Agata Kurzela Studio, to design the exhibition that will be staged during Dubai Design Week. “Both in its concept and design, the exhibition provides a fluid framework that demonstrates the distinctive and polyphonic chorus of original voices in this part of the world, effectively dismantling an outdated stereotype of it being an echo chamber of global trends” she says.

Shortlisted from an open call, below are the studios that will showcase their work at ‘The Shape of Things to Come’.

The exhibition will be held 9-14 November 2020 in building 4, Dubai Design District (d3) and will be complemented with digital exclusives on Downtown Design’s Instagram channel.