Beyond Zero Exhibition
Beyond Zero is a New European Bauhaus exhibition with architectural projects from the Nordics and Estonia looking for radical solutions to mitigate climate change, the biggest challenge of out time.
The Beyond Zero exhibition opens Design Centre Proto`s 2026 design programme to celebrate Oulu2026 European Year of Culture and invites us to reflect on how architecture and the built environment can become more sustainable.
The built environment accounts for around 40% of climate emissions, consumes half of natural resources, and generates one third of all waste. The environmental crisis is a complex whole in which climate change, the loss of biodiversity, eutrophication, chemical loads, and questions of a just social transition are all interconnected. The construction sector’s pursuit of carbon neutrality is important, but on its own it is not enough to solve everything.
The Beyond Zero exhibition reminds us that architecture is not only about design or finished buildings, but about continuous processes that extend from material extraction to construction, use, repair, and ultimately demolition – and these processes affect our environment at every stage.
The exhibition explores the processes of architecture by examining them from six perspectives. To illustrate these viewpoints, 17 projects from the Nordic countries and Estonia have been selected, each offering its own ambitious vision for a sustainability transition in the construction sector.
The exhibition has been curated by Finnish Noon Architects and was created as part of Nordic Council’s Nordic Carbon Neutral Bauhaus project, premiering in Malmö in November 2024. Design Centre Proto brings the exhibition to Oulu.
16 January — 7 March 2026
Design Centre Proto
Pikisaarentie 17, Oulu
Thu-Fri 12 – 6 pm
Sat 10 am – 4 pm