The Dutch Urban Design and Development Centre (DUDOC) will open in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon, October 30, aiming to showcase the most innovative and sustainable designs from the Netherlands, ranging from heating and lighting systems to shoes and coffee machines.
In addition to being a platform for Dutch companies to promote their products for sustainable development in downtown Vancouver, DUDOC will also serve as a forum for exchanging ideas and designs to promote best-of-class solutions for builders and city planners in both continents.
[Jaga’s cool and colourful Play radiator]
Among the partners showcasing their products are Connex, which employs the concept of bio mimicry to create products that fit a circular economy and Jaga, which merges innovation and art in its heating and cooling systems.
[Wouter Strietman’s ES3 espresso machine]
Dutch design products such as the Tulpi chair and Wouter Strietman’s espresso machine complete the ambiance for guests to wonder in for a coffee and browse through the collection of Dutch architectural and city building books.
DUDOC is the brainchild of Walas Concepts, a Dutch-Canadian urban design company specializing in revitalizing neighbourhoods by taking into account the existing essence of the area, enhancing the creative core, and listening to the locals.
[Upcycled MilkShell lampshade by Gilbert de Rooij]
Walas is known for fostering the creative class and growing the local economic by encouraging micro-businesses. Walas Concepts brought the concept of DUDOC forward to the Consul General of the Netherlands, who has collaborated to make it a reality.
“I’ve been working in both countries for several years as an urban designer and I’ve always been struck by the compatibility in culture and sensibility,” states Gerben van Straaten. “Netherlands has been a hotbed of sustainable innovation for a number of years and Canada is a country open to new ideas and eager to exchange and implement ideas around green design.”
DUDOC has taken over the former Buschlen Mowatt Gallery space at 1445 Georgia Street and is conscious of carrying on the legacy of excellence in showcasing emerging talent. The vision for DUDOC is to become a centre for the exchange of ideas and collaboration between designers and developers to create a new vision of vitality for the metropolitan Vancouver area.