Geelong Design Week returns from 1-11 October 2026 with more than 100 exhibitions, talks, tours, workshops, performances and public activations exploring how design can shape places, industries and communities.
Presented across Greater Geelong, the 11-day program brings together architects, designers, researchers, businesses and community leaders. For built-environment professionals, it offers a timely look at the architecture, infrastructure and urban thinking influencing one of Australia’s fastest-growing regional cities.
A major addition in 2026 is the inaugural Victorian Regional Design Fair, held from 1-4 October at the new Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre. More than 50 designers, studios and creative businesses from across regional Victoria will participate, supported by 14 talks, interactive experiences and a pop-up shop featuring over 100 locally designed products. Built-environment exhibitors include IS Architecture, Cooper Scaife Architects, Stonehouse + Irons Architecture, Studio 101 Architects, 3iD Architecture, PLOT Architecture & Urbanism and Tsai Design.
The Fair will also host ‘Nyaal Banyul: Designing a New Landmark for Geelong’, examining the ideas, collaboration and connection to Country behind the city’s major new waterfront venue. ‘Country as Client’, led by architect and designer Jefa Greenaway, will consider how First Nations knowledge can inform contemporary design practice.
Elsewhere in the program, ‘What Makes a Good Neighbourhood in a Growth Area’ will bring planning and design perspectives to the challenge of creating connected, liveable communities as regional populations expand. ‘Built Legacies’ will explore the McGlashan Everist archive and the practice’s contribution to Geelong, including the transformation of the historic Denny Lascelles Woolstores into Deakin University’s Waterfront Campus.
‘The Greater Geelong Clean Economy Showcase’ will examine innovation across renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, resource recovery and the circular economy, while ‘Designing with Nature’ will explore practical approaches to urban greening, biodiversity and climate resilience.
With events staged across the city and surrounding region, the program invites industry professionals and the public to examine how design responds to growth, heritage and environmental change.
Geelong Design Week has grown into a major platform for regional design since Geelong became Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design in 2017. The 2024 festival attracted approximately 40,000 attendees across 86 events.
