The Why Factory

The Why Factory is research and education institute that belongs to the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology. It is led by professor Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV. The Why Factory focuses in the development of our cities. Education and research of The Why Factory are combined in a research lab and platform that aims to analyse, theorize and construct future cities. The Why Factory investigates within the given world and produces future scenarios beyond it: from universal to specific and from global to local. It proposes, constructs and envisions hypothetical societies and cities; from science to fiction and vice versa. The Why Factory thus acts as a future world scenario making machinery. This work is funded through public resources and, occasionally, throughout agreements with educational centres from all over the world. For this reason, in difficult times like this, The Why Factory wishes to hightlight the participation of the public sector in supporting advanced education and research. This exhibition shows part of the production of The Why Factory in the last ten years, through models, videos and publications. The chronological journey through the research projects undertaken shows the scope, transcendence and topicality of these visions about the future of the city. At Architekturgalerie München, the research projects of The Why Factory are shown on a large table inspired by the workspace of The Why Factory in Delft. This work is related to the cloud of futures suspended from the ceiling of the exhibition hall. All projects, undertaken by the students of The Why Factory and a team of researchers, is an invitation to continue investigating about the city that is going to come. A future full of questions to answer, visionary, green, fantastic, fast, self-sufficient, sober, beautiful, (hi)storical, transparent, biodiverse, intimate, adaptable, free, open, emotional, amazing, natural, wonderful and common.