VISION & MISSION
Design is a fascinating instrument to give shape to our (communal) life. Designers give a tangible form to current social issues. Based on their concepts and products, a discussion about the future becomes possible. As a rich educational and business location, Eindhoven is ideally situated to forge new alliances between (top) design talent, companies, administrators, researchers and the public and an exceptional and internationally appreciated breeding ground for design talent.
Discover the meaning of design for the world of tomorrow,
seen through the eyes of influential designers.
From this vision, Kazerne creates a vibrant, welcoming and inspiring hospitably environment in the heart of design city Eindhoven, where as many people as possible can experience how design adds value to the world in which we live in a laidback way. A place where visitors can share the dreams and promises that designers conjure, on a daily basis. With the opening of the hotel and members club at the beginning of 2019, this has now become possible 24/7. Kazerne offers designers a museum-like springboard, a welcoming and committed podium that wants to explore the ‘zeitgeist’ through exhibitions, connecting and in-depth activities. As a meeting place for design professionals, their stakeholders and audience, the design platform connects diverse living environments and cross-sectoral networks, stimulates discovery and challenges them to contemplate more deeply. In this way, Kazerne functions as an essential connecting link in the rich design infrastructure of Eindhoven, which has its resonance far beyond the region.
Encounter a world of design, new opportunities and perspectives
in a hospitable, inspiring environment.
Kazerne is situated in a monumental barracks building dating back to 1825 and neighbouring warehouse that was built exactly one hundred years later for the municipal cleaning department. The 2,600 square metres of heritage complex has been transformed into a unique combination of meeting spaces, exhibition and hospitality. Since October 2014, it is home to a gallery with changing exhibitions, a casual restaurant, a function room that can also be used as a theatre or symposium space and a shop where exhibited design works can be purchased to take home. Since 2019, the hotel with 8 suites and lofts (where you sleep surrounded by design), the fine dining Restaurant Benz at Kazerne, a number of new function rooms for rent and a modern club have been added to the mix. The atmosphere is cosmopolitan, informal, artistic, chic – the place to be for top talent, creative and business networks; artists and nerds, employees and entrepreneurs, private and business, world travellers and global workers. A new destination with beautiful heritage preserved for everyone to enjoy.
PROGRAMME
To summarize, we translate our mission into three types of activities plus communicating about them, on an entrepreneurial foundation that is rooted in hospitality.
1. Exhibitions
Exhibitions with current and recent work of world-class design talent, both upcoming and established. Our loyalties lie with those creatives that relate to the region through study and/or work;
2. Connecting activities
To bring together different living environments and networks; and initiate and facilitate cross-sectoral lab projects;
3. In-depth activities
To initiate and facilitate debate and the sharing of knowledge and to stimulate talent.
Our entrepreneurial foundation, rooted in hospitality
Kazerne was very deliberately set up as a cultural enterprise: all activities take place on the entrepreneurial foundation that is rooted in hospitality. With the (independent) restaurant revenues, a large share of the content of the programme is made possible. At the same time, the hospitality adds an extra layer to the experience of these activities. The public sees and experiences the work of designers in a completely different context than, for example, in a museum, in a gallery or at a fair. The hospitality also ensures constant liveliness and an influx of visitors, which emphasize the validity of the podium.
It is important to emphasize that Kazerne is not a commercial hospitality concept, increased by design. Kazerne is a cultural, design-oriented organization, primarily set up from a deeply felt social involvement. The policy for admission prices is largely based on free entry. The public participates in the content of the programme through their spending in the hotel, restaurants and in the shop, so that the threshold can remain low. For some events and during the busy Dutch Design Week we ask for a modest entrance fee, in part because of crowd control.
