The Dott finale

Today sees the opening of the Dott 07 festival in Newcastle Gateshead, marking the culmination of the North East’s ambitious Designs of The Time programme.

Located in Baltic Square, Gateshead Quays, between The Sage and The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, the festival is a showcase of Dott’s many innovative co-design projects that have been taking place over the last 12 months.

Dott aims to imagine what life in a sustainable community could be like and to inspire people to participate in applying design thinking for themselves.

Dott’s executive producer Robert O’Dowd explains that the festival is divided into a number of themed zones, including Schools, Food, Energy, Movement and Health.

They feature sustainable design projects co-created by the communities of the North East region, together with over 200 designers, artists and arts organisations, over 15 000 students and teachers, and over 100 SMEs.

‘We want to inspire people to start similar projects themselves and to help accelerate the region’s transition to sustainability,’ O’Dowd says.

This evening will also see the presentation of the inaugural Dott Awards.

The festival showcase, designed by Xsite Architecture, can be visited between 10am and 6pm daily until 28 October. Entry is free. See www.dott07.com for further information.