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Workshops

Museum as a Place of Learning

Historic industrial culture and modern design culture come together in the Boiler House. Where Zollverein’s power station once stood, the Red Dot Design Museum now provides creative inspiration for design. Guided tours for those interested in architecture and design, as well as workshops for schools and universities, offer different ways to explore design.
The Museum as a Place of Learning

The Museum as a Place of Learning

 

What would a museum be without its visitors? They are the ones who bring the Zollverein site and the Red Dot Design Museum to life. Around 1.7 million visitors from all over the world come to the World Heritage Site each year. A place once built for machines has become a place for people. And the number of visitors to the Red Dot Design Museum continues to grow year after year.

Alongside innovative products, the exhibitions feature award-winning work in communication and brand design. The exhibits also reflect the world we live in – or would like to live in – because design seeks innovative solutions to the questions of our time. This also makes the Red Dot Design Museum a special place of learning for its visitors.

Guided Tours and Workshops

 

Guided tours bring the contrast between old and new, between industrial culture and design culture, vividly to life. Through examples ranging from classic seating designs to the avant-garde, the workshops trace a path from the beginnings of industrialisation to contemporary design. Topics include function and form, appeal and use, simplicity and complexity, materials and sustainability, as well as brand and trend colours.

All of these themes are part of the workshop programme offered by the Red Dot Design Museum, particularly for schools, universities and vocational colleges.

Grasping with Hand and Head

“Think Future” – Zollverein’s motto in 2026 – can be grasped quite literally, because thinking about the future begins with understanding. Or, as the graphic designer Otl Aicher once put it: “because the hand can grasp, thought can also grasp”.

Contact
Ms Ronja Hensle
ronja.hensle@dznrw.com