Design Museum Gent reopens on 3 October 2026 with a new wing and renewed museum concept

On 3 October 2026, Design Museum Gent reopens after a four-year transformation, marking a new chapter as Belgium’s largest design museum and a platform where design meets societal change.

With a new wing and a renewed museum concept, it invites visitors to look at the world with a critical eye. Starting from the idea that everything is designed — and therefore can be redesigned — the museum explores how design shapes everything from everyday objects to the systems that structure our lives.

Bringing together collection highlights, contemporary interventions and an opening exhibition on design and democracy, Design Museum Gent becomes a space for experimentation, dialogue and collective action.

Design Museum Gent is one of Europe’s leading institutions dedicated to design and applied arts, uniquely bridging historical depth with contemporary relevance. Founded in 1903, the museum has grown from a private initiative into a dynamic public institution, housing an extensive collection that spans from the 14th century to today, with a particular focus on Belgian design.

Located in the historic heart of Ghent, the museum is an architectural ensemble in itself, combining an 18th-century mansion (Hotel de Coninck), the Leten House with its 16th-century core, and a late 20th-century wing. A new extension further connects these buildings, positioning the museum as both a heritage site and a forward-looking cultural platform.

Throughout its history, Design Museum Gent has played an active role in shaping and promoting design culture—from early model collections and world exhibition acquisitions to pioneering initiatives that brought modern, affordable design to a wider audience. Today, it continues to position itself as a critical space for reflection, dialogue, and innovation in design.

Reopening to the public on 3 October 2026 after a four-year closure, the museum — under the direction of Katrien Laporte — enters a new chapter—reaffirming its role as a key reference point for design in Belgium and beyond.

Design Museum Gent in brief

Largest design museum in Belgium with +/- 6.500 m² in total, including no less than 3.700 m² of exhibition space.
New wing designed by the architecture studios Carmody Groarke (UK),ATAMA (BE) and RE-ST (BE), and constructed using bricks made from 63% local waste streams.
Largest design collection in Belgium with +/- 24.000 objects.
New collection display with +/- 500 absolute highlights, 40% of which has never been shown to the public before.
12 unique design projects curated by Siegrid Demyttenaere throughout the museum, from the 3D-printed entrance portal to the toilets.

The Historic Courtyard as the Heart of the Museum

The historic Hotel de Coninck has always been organised around its inner courtyard. Behind its impressive façade, however, there was a neglected southern passage and an unused plot at the centre of the site. With the addition of the new wing, the courtyard can now fully function as a garden — the heart of the museum and a clear point of orientation.

Views towards the courtyard run through the building, guiding movement through the museum and connecting its various parts. The new wing links the existing museum buildings into a coherent whole, completing the visitor loop.

The new wing introduces six zones, organised around three core principles: welcoming, open and adaptable. At basement level, the art-handling area offers a glimpse into the museum’s daily work. From there, visitors move through the Stadskamer (reception and shop), the Forum (lecture space), the Atelier (workshops) and the Vitrine (temporary exhibitions), before arriving at the Loft on the fourth floor — a generous event space with panoramic views over the city of Ghent.

Circular by Design

The overall masterplan of the museum respects the past while clearly looking ahead. Historic interiors have been carefully restored, while later additions have been optimised to create more space and better climatic conditions. Wherever possible, materials have been reused and sustainable solutions adopted. The result is a museum capable of hosting internationally significant collections under optimal conservation conditions while at the same time considerably reducing its ecological impact.

The new wing is built in timber and white brick, drawing on Ghent’s building traditions in a contemporary way. The façade is made from Gent Waste Brick — a lime-cured brick produced from locally sourced municipal waste. Instead of being fired in kilns, the bricks harden through a low-energy lime-curing process, significantly reducing their environmental impact. More than 82,000 bricks were produced locally at Het Arsenaal in Ghent, a process the people of Ghent could follow live.

The façade reflects the city’s material history while also looking towards its future. The brick dimensions match those of the 18th-century Hotel de Coninck, helping old and new sit comfortably together. Their white colour relates to the historic houses along Drabstraat, while the overall composition draws on the scale and rhythm of Ghent’s guild houses and merchant houses. Deep window reveals, pronounced copings and careful detailing give the building a clear civic presence and a strong architectural identity.

A design museum does not only display design; it uses and embodies design. Special Design Projects are integrated throughout the building, ranging from furniture by Casimir and Bram Vanderbeke & Wendy Andreu and a pocket garden by Bureau Bas Smets to acoustic curtains by Chevalier-Masson and the 3D-printed aluminium entrance gate Freeze Frame 82.2 by Unfold. The museum thus becomes not only a place where design is exhibited, but also a place where design is experienced and shared. The new wing is not conceived as a neutral container, but as a clearly articulated framework that can evolve flexibly alongside the museum and its audiences.

A Museum for Everyone

The renewed museum is conceived as a third space in the public realm: an open and welcoming environment where people can meet, learn, create and discover. From the very start of the design process, one central question guided the project: “Is this a museum for me?”

In 2025, forty residents of Ghent came together in the citizens’ panel DE40 to discuss the question in its more defined form: How can Design Museum Gent make design accessible and relevant to a broad audience, regardless of background or prior knowledge? Their insights served as a guiding framework in the transformation from building to museum.

Collection. Models from the Past for the Future
→ from 3 October 2026 onward

There is no design museum without a design collection. The foundations of the collection were laid in 1903 by citizens of Ghent, who gathered models — drawings, furniture and objects — to support makers and designers in developing their craft and knowledge. This initiative formed the basis of today’s collection of around 24,000 objects, spanning from the 14th century to the present day. Together, they present the story of Belgian design in an international context, with a particular focus on the vernacular culture.

As part of the renovation, the space dedicated to Collection. Models from the Past for the Future has been doubled. The presentation starts from a simple question: How can a design collection continue to inspire in 2026? In times of change, there is a growing need for new ideas, and the past can often be more relevant than expected. The display explores how techniques, materials, concepts and practices from earlier periods can still inform design today and in the future, while also showing how our understanding of them changes over time. What once seemed like the ideal solution may now be viewed more critically.

The focus is less on authorship and more on the meaning and impact of the designs themselves. Visitors encounter well-known international figures alongside lesser-known designers, including Alvar Aalto, Pieter De Bruyne, Charles & Ray Eames, Mabel Elwes, Axel Enthoven, Paul Hankar, Joseph Hoffmann, Victor Horta, Huib Hoste, David Huycke, Arne Jacobsen, Yvette Lauwaert, Alessandro Mendini, Open Structures, Gaetano Pesce, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, Yvonne Serruys, Bořek Šípek, Ettore Sottsass, Pieter Stockmans, Henry van de Velde, Albert Van huffel, Elza Van huffel-Gallet, Maarten Van Severen, Tapio Wirkkala, Philippe Wolfers and Eva Zeisel.

Through five themes — copy, migration, folds, connections and comfort — the presentation guides visitors through Belgian and international design. By bringing together historical and contemporary objects in sometimes unexpected ways, it opens up new questions and reveals how designers, past and present, respond to them.

Opening Exhibitions

Public Matter(s): Design and Democracy

The opening exhibition Public Matter(s): Design and Democracy (3 October 2026 – 11 April 2027) looks at a different side of design, shifting the focus from objects to systems of power. It starts from a simple idea: every aspect of Western democracy has been designed and can therefore be redesigned.

This includes not only election posters, parliamentary buildings or ballot papers, but also the system itself. The structures that shape how democracy works, such as party representation and voting procedures, are all designed. The exhibition asks whether these systems still deliver on their promises. Are they truly inclusive? What happens when more power is placed in the hands of citizens? Which new forms of democracy and participation are already emerging? Who is left out, and what are the consequences?

Drawing on the history of Ghent, Flanders and Belgium, the exhibition uses the past as a starting point to imagine possible democratic futures together.

CO-LAB
→ 3 October 2026 – 11 April 2027

Designers, researchers and local communities join forces for seven groundbreaking projects. From queer archiving to ecological co‑creation, and from low‑tech energy solutions to open‑source tools. CO‑LAB becomes a space in the museum where diverse voices come together.

DIGITAL
→ from 3 October 2026 onward

In Digital, we dive into the world of digital technology and explore how it shapes our design culture today. We look beyond the role of the designer and challenge you to reflect on how we shape interaction within the museum.

Practical Information

Design Museum Gent

Address
Design Museum Gent
Drabstraat 10
9000 Ghent, Belgium

Reopening Date : 3 October 2026
Public Opening Celebrations : 3–11 October 2026
Free Admission Weekend : 3–4 October 2026

Press preview: 1 October 2026