Next Venue joins MaterialDistrict; twentieth edition moves to Midden Nederland Hallen

From materials library to platform for application

With Next Venue joining, a new phase begins for MaterialDistrict. The editorial position, the network and the expertise built around sustainable material innovation remain the foundation of the event. Next Venue’s venues and events experience are added to that. The ambition is to grow MaterialDistrict further, strengthen the substantive programme and reach a broader group of professionals across the construction chain.

MaterialDistrict was founded in 1998 as a materials library. After Jeroen van Oostveen took over the platform in 2008, it developed further into a broad ecosystem around material innovation, with an annual trade event, independent materials exhibitions, online activities and publications.

Sustainability became ever more central in that. Where MaterialDistrict initially focused mainly on discovering new materials, the emphasis is now increasingly on how more sustainable materials actually find their way into buildings, interiors and the public realm.

MaterialDistrict broadens to the whole construction chain

Architects and interior designers have traditionally been a core audience for MaterialDistrict. In the years ahead the event wants to reach more deliberately other professionals who directly influence the application of materials, such as project developers, housing associations, property owners, municipalities and other public clients, contractors, construction companies, engineers and sustainability and material advisers.

That broadening aligns with a wider market shift. Sustainable building is moving ever further from experiment to everyday practice. That also changes what is asked of MaterialDistrict: not only to show which innovations exist, but above all to make visible how these solutions can actually be applied.

Theme: Matter of How

For the twentieth edition curator Leonne Cuppen developed the theme Matter of How. It builds on NextNow, the theme of 2026. Then the central observation was that many sustainable material solutions are no longer experimental: they exist, are maturing and in many cases are already directly applicable. The next step is acceptance and scaling.

Matter of How takes that thinking further in 2027. The question is no longer only which materials we need, but above all how we design, build, use and transform with them.

According to Cuppen, innovation increasingly arises less from one revolutionary new material and more from how design, technology, ecology, production and collaboration come together. Biobased is not automatically the best solution, and new-build is not self-evidently the answer. Sometimes the greatest gain sits precisely in smarter design, using less material, transforming existing buildings, dismantling and reusing. It is about the right material in the right place, and about the full life cycle.

That broader view becomes visible in the substantive programme of MaterialDistrict 2027. Alongside new materials there will be more attention for practice examples, technical depth, commissioning, regulation, new production methods, scaling and collaboration in the chain. The Young Talents also fit squarely within that thinking: a new generation of designers who do not automatically start from a solution, but first investigate what is really needed.

The familiar core of MaterialDistrict remains recognisable: a curated exhibition floor, an independent materials exhibition, a substantive knowledge programme, Young Talents and space for start-ups and scale-ups.

From innovation to building practice

That move towards application was already visible at MaterialDistrict 2026 in a collaboration with TBI, one of the largest construction and engineering groups in the Netherlands. Twenty exhibitors presented their innovation to a jury. Three of them then received a practice voucher of € 10.000 to work with TBI companies on further scaling or a first concrete application.

For MaterialDistrict this was a first tangible example of the direction in which the platform wants to grow further: from showing innovation to accelerating application.

Timo Kruft takes over the event activities in phases

Contact began on Kruft’s initiative. He is founder and owner of Next Venue, which operates and develops event and congress venues in the Netherlands, and also invests in events and organisations that fit his long-term vision.

Joining MaterialDistrict adds a substantively strong trade event around sustainable material innovation to that. The event activities and the brand will be transferred in phases over the coming years. During that period Van Oostveen remains involved to help shape the next phase and to transfer knowledge, relationships and experience.

Between Van Oostveen and Kruft a personal and business click quickly emerged during the conversations. Both are entrepreneurs who have built their companies from practice over many years. They also share a strong interest in sustainability, reuse and future-proof concepts.

Joinlii organises the event

For the organisation of MaterialDistrict, from 2027 Kruft works with Joinlii. The agency is led by Paul Verdult and Camille Janssen, two experienced event professionals with a long track record at Koninklijke Jaarbeurs. There they were involved among other things in concept development and in the organisation and positioning of business trade shows in sectors including construction and industry.

That experience is now put to work in the further development of MaterialDistrict, together with the editorial expertise and the network the event has built over twenty editions.

New home base in Central Netherlands

With the move to the Midden Nederland Hallen, MaterialDistrict arrives at a venue from the Next Venue portfolio. The central location makes the event easily accessible for a nationwide audience.

At the same time the surroundings fit the broadening of MaterialDistrict editorially. In Central Netherlands construction, industry, knowledge and new raw-material chains sit relatively close together. With Wageningen among others in the region, interesting connections arise around biobased raw materials, fibre crops and new material streams for the built environment.

The building itself also fits the story of MaterialDistrict. For the event greenhouse and the theatre greenhouse, with their highest point at fourteen metres, a greenhouse was reused that came from Floriade Expo 2022 in Almere. For an event centred on how we build, use and reuse more smartly, that is a fitting new setting.

Online, media and publishing activities remain independent

The acquisition concerns the MaterialDistrict brand and the physical event activities. The existing online, media and publishing activities stay with Van Oostveen. These continue independently and will in time receive a new name.

For Van Oostveen that ultimately also means a return to where his entrepreneurship once began: online media and publishing. He was co-founder of Architectenweb.nl and later co-founder of Archello.com. After almost twenty years of MaterialDistrict, he wants to focus more strongly in the coming years on the further development of his online and publishing activities.

One central challenge

MaterialDistrict 2027 takes place on 13, 14 and 15 April 2027 at the Midden Nederland Hallen in Barneveld.

The twentieth edition is dedicated to Matter of How and brings together material producers, designers, architects, clients, developers, municipalities, housing associations, advisers, builders, researchers, start-ups and Young Talents around one central challenge: not only showing what we can build more sustainably with, but above all how we actually get it done.