what we learned: dreams in motion

dreams as active design tools

Following the speculative systems and future frameworks explored in Utopia Then and Now, designboom turns its attention inward toward the subjective, emotional, and often irrational territory of dreams. The Dreams in Motion chapter asks a simple but radical question: what if dreams are not passive fantasies, but active rehearsals for reality?

Unlike utopian thinking, which tends to construct structured visions of better societies, this chapter operates in a looser, more fluid space. Dreams are approached as systems already in motion: forces that shape how we perceive, design, and ultimately build the world around us. The projects, interviews and profiles gathered under this theme do not present finished solutions. Instead, they behave like open-ended prototypes: unfinished, atmospheric, and emotionally charged. They do not resolve problems so much as stage possibilities.

designboom’s ROOM FOR DREAMS at Milan Design Week 2026 was the personification of how spatial storytelling can replace fixed function, creating environments that unfold like narratives. It set the tone for this new chapter where dreams are anything but abstract; they are carefully built, staged, and entered.

William Burroughs & Brion Gysin, The Dreamachine Installation view von Bartha, Basel, 2019 | image via Von Bartha

dreams to walk through: from permanence to active experience

Projects such as ‘Cinema of Dreams’ by PAF atelier or the immersive installations of Jeeyoung Lee construct entire dream worlds within confined interiors, translating inner psychological states into tangible, walkable scenes. This constructed quality of dreaming extends into science and technology. Research by Adam Haar Horowitz at MIT explores how devices can capture the threshold between wakefulness and sleep, turning hypnagogic states into spaces for creativity. In this sense, dreams are no longer elusive experiences but design territories that can be accessed, studied, and even guided—further reinforcing the idea that imagination is already in motion.

A key shift across the chapter is the move away from permanence. Rather than focusing on buildings or objects designed to last, many works prioritize temporary environments and immersive atmospheres. At Milan Design Week 2026, installations like ‘The Pink Labyrinth’ by Lina Ghotmeh or Sara Ricciardi’s Infinite Happiness transform public spaces into immersive sequences rather than fixed forms. These projects emphasize sensorial engagement over function, transforming space into something closer to an event than a structure. Spaces become time-based experiences like dream sequences or theatrical environments that visitors move through rather than simply observe. In this context, architecture is no longer static; it unfolds.

‘Il Sonno’ supermarket at designboom’s ROOM FOR DREAMS during MDW 2026 | image by Giuseppe Miotto / Marco Cappelletti Studio

emotional architecture and speculative dreamscapes

This leads to the rise of what could be described as emotional architecture. Designers such as Lonneke Gordijn emphasize that design is no longer a monologue of control, but a dialogue shaped by hidden dreams, subconscious desires, and interaction. In parallel, the surreal universe of Barnaba Fornasetti demonstrates how domestic objects can become carriers of dreamlike narratives, blurring the boundary between reality and imagination. In projects like the ‘Il Sonno’ stone supermarket by SolidNature and OMA/AMO as part of ROOM FOR DREAMS, familiar typologies are reimagined as symbolic landscapes, where material and mood carry more weight than utility. Design here translates memory, desire, and imagination into spatial form, shifting the focus from function to feeling, and from efficiency to meaning.

Many of the works push this approach further by dissolving constraints altogether. Projects like Olympus Perspective Playground create room-sized dream worlds that immerse visitors in disorienting, playful environments. These spaces resist conventional interpretation, inviting viewers to project themselves into the experience. In doing so, they suggest that architecture can operate not only as a physical construct, but as a mental and perceptual state.

This idea of mapping inner worlds is also explored through narrative and literature. The dreamlike cartographies inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin reveal how imagined landscapes can function as tools for understanding myth, identity, and consciousness. Here, design overlaps with storytelling, constructing worlds that exist simultaneously in the mind and in space. The ‘Impossible Dreamscapes’ series presents artificial, often human-less environments that resist conventional interpretation. These speculative worlds dissolve function and narrative.

Importantly, Dreams in Motion connects these contemporary explorations to a broader historical lineage. The influence of figures like Marcel Duchamp can be traced in the way everyday objects and spaces are reframed as experiential constructs. What was once radical in avant-garde practices—blurring art, life, and perception—now re-emerges in immersive installations and spatial storytelling.

Massimo Colonna, Ambiguous, 2018

participation and embodied experience

Another significant transformation lies in the role of the audience. In environments created by collectives such as teamLab, visitors are no longer passive observers but active participants. Movement, interaction, and sensory engagement become essential components of the work, turning space into a form of choreography where experience is co-created in real time.

What emerges from this chapter is a set of insights about the evolving nature of design today. Dreams are not escapist—they are tools for thinking about the future. Atmosphere matters as much as function, and sometimes more. Temporality can be more impactful than permanence. Removing constraints can expand the boundaries of what design can be. And perhaps most importantly, users are no longer just users—they are active contributors to the experience itself.

Pilar Zeta’s Mirror Gate II, Alabaster, Imperial Red, granite from Aswan, Breccia Fawakhir, Alabaster | image courtesy of the artist

from utopia to sensory futures

This shift is echoed in conversations like the interview with Andrés Jaque of Office for Political Innovation, where utopia itself is reframed as something dynamic, relational, and continuously evolving rather than fixed. If Utopia Then and Now asked what the future should look like, Dreams in Motion asks what the future feels like before it exists. It marks a shift from systems to sensations, from ideals to experiences, from fixed blueprints to evolving, immersive scenarios. In doing so, it suggests that the most powerful tool in design today may not be logic or technology, but imagination already in motion.

This article is part of designboom’s Dreams in Motion chapter, exploring what happens when we treat our dreams and reveries as an active, radical rehearsal for impending material realities. Explore more related stories here.

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