With a new wing, inaugurated on October 3, 2026, the Design Museum in Ghent reopens an establishment that is not only enlarged, but unified. Formerly scattered, the museum buildings are now connected and organized around a courtyard garden, presenting visitors with a streamlined journey.
More than 20 million euros were invested in the project which lasted 4 years, financed mainly by the city of Ghent and the Flemish government, with European support. The five-level extension, measuring approximately 2,200 m², was designed by London-based firm Carmody Groarke in collaboration with Belgian agency ATAMA, while RE-ST carried out the restoration and renovation of the existing buildings. The Design Museum is the largest design museum in Belgium by surface area.
With its historic buildings – the Leten House, a 16th century inn and the Hôtel de Coninck, an 18th century manor house – and the contemporary wing built in 1992, the museum now covers 6,500 m2, including 3,700 m2 of exhibition spaces. The permanent collection has been completely redesigned around 500 pieces, a large part of which are exhibited for the first time, out of the 24,000 which constitute the museum’s holdings.
Built with bricks made from recycled local construction site waste, the facade of DING – Design In Gent – reflects an ecological sensitivity that the museum’s programming continues to highlight through design projects using bio-sourced materials and circular methods. On the occasion of the reopening, the museum gave carte blanche to ten designers to create toilets incorporating sustainable and unique materials, reaffirming to visitors two essential axes of its philosophy: ecology and the social and practical dimension of design.
The inaugural exhibitions also illustrate these issues. “Public Matter(s)” focuses on the relationship between design and democracy, showing how design can influence political systems and living together. Highlighting the social aspect of the discipline, the museum is developing a participatory system with “CO-LAB”, a laboratory exhibition in which designers, researchers and local communities explore new ways of designing spaces. Finally, “Connect”, offered in free access, invites visitors to discover design according to an interactive logic, through games and collective experiences that encourage co-creation.
Note that Katrien Laporte, director of the Design Museum Gent since 2013, will leave her position on November 1, 2026, less than a month after the reopening of the museum, following a decision taken by mutual agreement with the City of Ghent.
