No prizes for guessing the topic of this festival: the Vienna Design Week does what it says on the label, with an eclectic array of events across the city.
- Annual international festival of design held throughout Vienna
- Features both regular themes and one-off tracks
- 10 days or so of events for both professionals and the curious layperson
- 2021 dates: Sept 24 – Oct 3
- See also: Fesch’Markt Wien | Blickfang Design Fair
What’s the DESIGN WEEK all about?
The festival showcases design projects, innovations, processes, and approaches through a wide range of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, tours, and more throughout the city. In doing so, it presents design as an interdisciplinary endeavour, where aesthetics, sociopolitics, and practical application all meet. (Phew.)
A strong international flavour always runs through the programme.
Regular tracks include, for example:
- A guest country: last time out, Switzerland took up residence in Vienna
- A guest Viennese district: Brigittenau carries the baton in 2021. Vienna’s 20th district runs alongside the Danube river
- The Path of Passion: a track that brings together design and (small) industry
- Urban Food & Design: a track exploring new concepts in the realm of local food production, distribution, and consumption
The main location changes each year: the 2021 HQ, for example, is in industrial and office premises on Sachsenplatz square (named for the participation of troops from Saxony on the Austrian side at the 1866 Battle of Königgrätz).
In 2020, the official Meidling district government buildings complex hosted the festival. The Amtshaus sits close to the Theresienbad public baths (whose origins date back to the mid-18th century). The event also saw an expanded virtual festival HQ accompany proceedings.
Events typically take place throughout the city, with numerous programme partners contributing everything from exhibitions to one-off talks.
For full details of the festival and the myriad of associated events, visit the official website.
2021 dates
The 2021 edition of Vienna Design Week runs from September 24th to October 3rd.
How to get to the design week
As mentioned, events take place across the city. To reach the 2021 headquarters, which also hosts various points on the programme…
Subway: walk up from three subway stations – Friedensbrücke on the U4 line, or Jägerstraße and Dresdner Straße on the U6 line
Tram/bus: tram line 5, for example, stops very close by at Rauscherstraße, leaves from Westbahnhof rail station and has a stop at Friedensbrücke. Alternatively, take bus 5A to Brigittagasse (which you can join at Dresdner Straße station, for example)
Address: Sachsenplatz, 1200 Vienna