What if.. energy reconnected us?
For Co/Lab: Connected Energy, we are looking for three design studios.
With Co/Lab: Connected Energy, Dutch Design Foundation and Vattenfall invite design studios to explore the challenges of the energy transition from a new perspective. Not by approaching energy as an individual issue, but by investigating how energy can connect people. How can positive, individual initiatives be scaled up and linked together so that they also create value for others? We also want to explore solutions that go beyond the individual household and instead draw strength from scale, collaboration and solidarity. How can energy reconnect us towards 2035 by making space for bottom-up initiatives? And what role can actors within the system, such as energy suppliers, grid operators and municipalities, play in enabling this?
The Co/Lab approaches energy as a shared responsibility and as a design challenge. We explore how collaboration at neighbourhood level can contribute to greater control, fairness and flexibility within the energy system towards 2035. In doing so, we connect to the new Energy Act, which creates room for local energy production, storage and flexibility. The central design question is: How can energy reconnect us?
Within the Co/Lab, three design studios will work on this question, each from their own perspective. We are open to responses at different scales, ranging from system-level change to accessible, everyday interventions that make energy tangible, shareable and understandable. The focus is on future scenarios that show how sharing energy is not only functional, but also contributes to connection, inclusivity and new forms of collaboration within the neighbourhood. These are not abstract visions of the future, but clear scenarios, applicable insights and imaginative concepts that align with the realities of residents, policymakers, technicians and market actors.
The Co/Lab functions as an experimental space in which ideas can be explored, designed and tested, with the aim of making new directions visible and open for discussion.
The challenge
The energy transition is making energy less self-evident. Grid congestion, price fluctuations and new technologies are increasing inequalities between households that can and cannot take part. In Co/Lab: Connected Energy, we explore how energy can reconnect us by linking individual initiatives and scaling them up into collective, neighbourhood-based solutions. Not only as a technical system, but as a social and service-oriented design challenge, with affordability, agency and inclusivity at its core. The full briefing provides further context.
Who are we looking for?
For this Co/Lab, we are looking for designers who do not approach energy solely as a technical or economic issue, but as a spatial, social and societal design challenge. Designers who can move between different scales and understand that sharing energy is inseparable from questions of space, ownership, responsibility and inclusivity.
- Designers who approach energy as a spatial, social and societal design challenge
- Design studios that can work across different scales, from household to neighbourhood and system
- Designers with experience in, or affinity for, complex challenges involving multiple stakeholders
- Designers who embed collectivity, inclusivity and social impact in their design approach
We explicitly invite a diversity of designers to jointly develop a broad range of possible scenarios and solutions. This may include spatial designers, social designers, service or systems designers, as well as other disciplines that can enrich this challenge. What connects them is a shared ambition: contributing to a future in which energy is affordable, shared and connective.
What will you do?
The three selected design studios will each work on the challenge from their own perspective (spatial, social or service-oriented) and contribute to a shared goal: discovering new ways to organise energy collectively, affordably and in ways that foster connection. The following design criteria apply to the concepts and outcomes: collective and inclusive, future-proof and adaptive, circular and sustainable, inspiring and imaginative, and system-oriented.
Throughout the Co/Lab, the design studios will work alongside experts and partners from Vattenfall. The programme offers space to experiment, imagine and test ideas, with the aim of making new directions visible and open for discussion. A wide range of outcomes is possible, from future scenarios and explorations to concepts and practical applications. The designers’ results will be presented during Dutch Design Week. These outcomes are not blueprints, but a shared foundation for further research, collaboration and potential system change.
Practical information
– Application deadline: Sunday 1 March 2026, 23:59
– Selection: three design studios
– Start: kick-off and masterclass on 11 March 2026 at Vattenfall in Amsterdam
– Presentation during Dutch Design Week: 17–25 October 2026
For full details, check the briefing.
The selected design studios will receive a fee covering participation, concept development, elaboration and presentation during Dutch Design Week. Intellectual property rights remain with the designers.
Are you a designer who wants to contribute to new forms of collective energy? Then apply via the registration form on the Co/Lab page. Please make sure you’ve read the briefing before applying!
For questions, please contact Lab Manager Kathelijn Voets at kathelijn.voets@dutchdesignfoundation.com.