The Space that Talks Back: an installation about space, climate and choice
How do you make visible the fact that space is never neutral? During Dutch Design Week 2026, Urban Climate Architects presents The Space that Talks Back: a six-metre-high immersive installation exploring space, climate and the choices that shape our living environment.
Built from Circular CLT (C-CLT), the installation brings together material research, imagery and spatial experience. From 17 to 25 October 2026, visitors can experience the installation in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week. The project is developed together with Kiss the Frog, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, and Scape Agency.
A space that responds to our choices
The Space that Talks Back invites visitors to experience how every spatial decision has consequences. For housing. For nature. For water, heat and social interaction.
The installation makes these relationships tangible. Rather than offering quick answers, it creates a space for questions, perspectives and conversation. What happens when we make room for growth? And what does that decision mean for people, cities, nature and climate?
For Urban Climate Architects, this question is central to climate-conscious and nature-inclusive urban design. Architecture is not only about shaping buildings, but about understanding how design choices influence the wider living environment.
From scale model to six-metre-high installation
The scale model shown here is an early spatial study for the final installation. What currently fits on a table will soon become a structure approximately six metres high.
The installation is built from Circular CLT, with images positioned between the timber frames like stained glass on fabric. Material and storytelling become part of the same spatial experience.
Circular CLT is central to the installation. Urban Climate Architects is exploring how secondary timber streams can be reused as a high-value structural material. Our C-CLT research into mass timber made from waste wood investigates how reclaimed timber can gain a new life within the construction sector.
The installation therefore does more than demonstrate a material. It asks a broader question: what happens when we stop treating existing resources as waste and start using them as the starting point for new design?
Circular construction begins with design
The Space that Talks Back connects directly to our wider work on research and innovation and circular construction.
Circular construction is not simply about choosing a different material at the end of a design process. It starts earlier: by considering where materials come from, how they can be used efficiently and what can happen to them after their first use.
This approach also connects to our work as a mass timber architect. Timber, CLT and reclaimed wood can contribute to a different construction culture when material, structure and architecture are considered together from the outset.
The Space that Talks Back turns those ideas into a physical experience. A space that does not simply surround the visitor, but asks them to consider the consequences of the choices we make.
Experience The Space that Talks Back at Dutch Design Week
The Space that Talks Back will be presented from 17 to 25 October 2026 during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.
For us, the installation is both an experiment and an invitation: to look differently at materials, space and the built environment — and to explore how architecture can contribute to healthier, more circular and climate-resilient cities.
Want to explore the ideas behind the installation? Read more about Circular CLT and mass timber from waste wood, discover what biobased construction means or explore our wider work in timber architecture.
