What If City

Help build the city of the future from home

(this project has already finished, but you can still use our videos, building tips and resources)

Turn your home into an inventors’ lab

Are you at home a lot too? And do you sometimes find it hard to think of something to do? The Discovery Factory has an idea. And we need you for it.

– Become a creative inventor! Use your imagination and build your ideas for the future.

– Join in with the whole family. Come up with great things and make them together.

– Use simple everyday household materials. You don’t need to go to the shop for special supplies.

Together we are building What•If•City

What If lots of children made small parts of a city at home? And What If we put them all together in The Discovery Factory? Then together we would build a scale model of an enormous city! How cool is that?!

Build your own What•If•City at home
Help build What-If-City with the whole family during the Corona period. What If you could decide what the city of the future looks like? Make your own fantasy city of the future (a house, a bridge, a slide, a tower, a viaduct or something completely different?). You design and build your own parts of that new city right at home, using everyday household materials.

Your city, your future
A huge block of flats you can ski down from! Or would you rather live among the trees? In your city, anything is possible. Your city will surely be a smart city full of new inventions. With plenty of room for young and old people. And animals, of course. A city full of buildings that make people happy. Then everyone will love living there.

Help build What•If•City in 5 simple steps

Step 1: Download the free building tips and resources.

The building tips sheet has 14 pages of handy illustrations, golden tips and fun inspiration. There are two sheets to print yourself. One sheet with a little house at a scale of 1 to 45 (LEGO) and one sheet with a little house at a scale of 1 to 24 (Playmobil).

Go to the webshop.

Step 2: Watch Tumaini’s videos for inspiration.

Video 1: What•If•City

Video 2: Make a What•If•City House

Video 3: Make a What•If•City Windmill

Video 4: Make a What•If•City Slide

Step 3: Make your own What•If•City.

Make your own house, building, car, train, bicycle or flying machine, or another design for the city of the future. Use your own materials or order a materials kit from our webshop (including 2 tickets for The Discovery Factory).

Step 4: Share your What•If•City with the world

Once you have built something, show it to the whole world on this website (click the ‘create entry’ button below). Or perhaps you have a special technique for designing or building that others can learn from? Upload your photos, drawings, tips or films and show everyone what you came up with and made yourself! Or have a look at what other children have come up with.

Step 5: Visit the What•If•City exhibition

Keep your creations safe. Because What If we are fi-nal-ly allowed to get together again? Then we will collect all the buildings and build an enormous city in The Discovery Factory!

Can’t wait to see that enormous What•If•City either? Buy your tickets for The Discovery Factory for the whole family here.

What•If•City is a project by The Discovery Factory in collaboration with Dutch Design Foundation and was made possible in part by a contribution from Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven.