ExhibitionWDC Campus dreams, ideas & prototypes

4 July – 9 August 2026

Grafik/Graphic: WDC-Campus, Foto/Photo: Kerstin Weiser

The WDC Campus is a forward-looking project and one of the highlights of World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026. The exhibition dreams, ideas & prototypes showcases emerging talents in design and architecture, as well as researchers and inventors. It focuses on the challenges of our time, such as changes in urban and rural areas, our daily commutes, the digitization of everyday life, our aging society, food, and much more. The exhibition showcases unconventional approaches ranging from the design of public spaces and new forms of coexistence to responsible consumption and technological innovations.

The exhibition showcases how creative and scientific approaches work together to understand societal challenges and develop sustainable solutions. Spanning over 1,200 m² at the Museum Angewandte Kunst and in its outdoor areas, this extensive exhibition presents more than 100 works by young talents in design and architecture, as well as by researchers from other disciplines. A special focus is placed on interdisciplinary collaboration across various fields.

Projects by students, universities, and international institutions form the core of the exhibition. These include projects developed specifically for the exhibition by participating partner universities as well as by national and international educational institutions. For the first time, award-winning works from the most prestigious design awards for young designers will also be exhibited under one roof. The exhibition is rounded off by themed areas where the works of students enter into a dialogue with projects by established designers. Contributors include Ineke Hans, Tobias Trübenbacher, Andreas Mühlenbehrend, Nico Munkler, Sebastian Oschatz, Peter Eckart, and Kai Vöckler.

Their projects tackle topics such as Artificial Intelligence, multimodal mobility, medical technology, and bio-based building materials. This demonstrates how ideas born during university studies can be developed further, transferred into practice, and turned into tangible solutions for social and economic challenges.

The exhibition is a co-production of the WDC Campus team with over 40 regional and international universities, nine design awards, and numerous designers, architects, researchers, and other contributors.

Curators: Julia Klaas and Corinna Gratzl (WDC Campus)

Calendar

WDC Campus: dreams, ideas & prototypes

  • The Okeanos Foundation has developed a method for teaching cooperative interaction and collective teamwork while the team is on a sailing trip. Our quality of life and the future development of democracy depend not only on the preservation of ecosystems – fundamentally sustained by the global ocean. How we, from the perspective of the Main River, keep the sea and its demands on us in view is conveyed by design students from the Hochschule Darmstadt, accompanied by greenD and supported by the Okeanos Stiftung. They are developing and testing new sustainable, cooperative, and self-empowered forms of living together and will make them tangible at the WDC Campus.

    The workshop will be held in German. Free entry.
    More information and registration at: WDC 2026

  • On 18 February 2026, the City of Frankfurt’s Smart City Office and the NODE association opened the new space for digital innovation, “display,” in the heart of downtown.

  • Without registration. Included in the admission price.
    The tour will be held in German.

  • This workshop demonstrates the design thinking methodology in three phases. With Prof Markus Weisbeck and Vera Kunz, students develop design-thinking processes in three phases, moving from individual approaches to collective results. Visual experiments, exchange, and teamwork lead to works with shared authorship and present design as an open process of shaping the future.

    The workshop will be held in German. Free entry.
    More information and registration at: WDC 2026

  • With Tobias Trübenbacher, Andreas Lang and Studio ttal.
    Free entry.

  • For 168 years, the Frankfurt Zoo has shaped the cityscape and served as an oasis of biodiversity. The traditional center for nature and species conservation is being modernized. The first step is the new Africa area, inviting visitors on a journey through the Serengeti. The public area of a zoo serves many purposes. Design and furnishings consider aspects such as immersive animal experiences, quality of stay for individuals and groups, accessibility, climate, education, information, and furniture.

    The planned savannah area at Frankfurt Zoo includes an animal house and an outdoor area of about 24,000 m². Different species are housed together wherever possible. The visitor path stretches over 1,000 m, leading to hippos, giraffes, flamingos, and more.

    Immersive zoo design visually connects the habitats of animals and visitors. Visitors move along clearly defined paths through the new habitats, with the path becoming a central architectural element: it guides movement, creates visual connections, and enables varied encounters between visitors and animals.

    In cooperation with Mainz University of Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture, this topic was explored as a project task.

    The workshop will be held in German. Free entry.
    More information and registration at: WDC 2026

  • With Prof Dr Kai Vöckler, Prof Peter Eckart and the Offenbach Insititute for mobility design.