Freeze Frame 82.2

Freeze Frame 82.2 is a monumental gateway to the new wing of Design Museum Gent. This 3D-printed aluminium curtain, seemingly in motion yet frozen in a single moment, represents the challenges of a society in transition..

The jury on Freeze Frame 82.2:

Freeze Frame 82.2 impresses with the courage to push the boundaries of design and provoke discussion. The design evokes wonder and questions and brings visitors into contact with design from the outside. The choice of a closed door that at the same time invites you to enter makes the design poetic and surprising.

With this intervention, Design Museum Gent also shows that design need not be limited to exhibitions, but can also become part of the architecture and the external experience of the museum, in collaboration with local designers.

How did the idea for this project come about?

Siegrid Demyttenaere, curator of Special Design Projects, and Katrien Laporte from Design Museum Gent invited us to design the gateway because of the symbiosis between heritage, tradition and innovative techniques in our work. The brief was fairly open-ended: ‘perhaps something involving 3D printing?’, which is no easy feat on that scale. We created the curtain using a digital tool for simulating fabric, developed, among other things, for the artist Edith Dekyndt, with whom we frequently collaborate.

How does it contribute to a better world?

Freeze Frame 82.2 captures a moment of movement and transition, showing how design not only asks questions but also shapes what comes next. The technology mirrors this: 3D printing lets us use only the aluminium we need, creating a lightweight 4 mm shell with no machining waste. And by micro-manufacturing locally, we bring advanced production back into the city, cutting transport emissions.

Do you have any further plans for this project?

Freeze Frame 82.2 has received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, and we’ve already had several enquiries about developing similar projects. The collaboration with MX3D has also left us wanting more: we’ve gained a great deal of experience with aluminium 3D printing on a monumental scale – valuable knowledge that we’d like to build on in new projects.