Reshaping public spaces

Laurens Kolks's design work focusses on spatial interventions that explore possibilities to reshape public spaces. Important points of departure are his love-hate relationship with the Dutch compulsion to excessively plan space usage, as well as a fascination with the manufacturability of spatial experiences: design as a means to change the perception of one's environment.

Laurens considers himself a topophil, where topophilia is understood as the love of places and their particularities. Accordingly, his work consists primarily of unique, site-specific designs and installations with either a temporary or permanent character. The scale of the designs ranges from furniture and set designs to complete interiors and buildings.

Laurens received a bachelor's degree in Industrial Design at Design Academy Eindhoven (1999), a master's degree in Sociology (2018, cum laude), and a doctorate in Sociology (2024) – both at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Dr. Laurens Kolks is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering - Delft University of Technology. His research investigates how design can engender and support public engagement with collective concerns. Research interests include (re)shaping public spaces through design, the enabling capacities of form, and more-than-human design.