Design Map · Eindhoven
Before the Snow Melts: 100 Days After the 2026 Winter Olympics
Graduation project by Valentina Cemin at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Set 100 days after the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, ‘Before the Snow Melts' investigates the localised environmental, social and cultural impact of the global mega-event on the rural community of Val di Fiemme, exploring the friction between a performative branded "venue" and the residents’ permanent “home”. Drawing on interviews, field research and community workshops conducted before and after the Games, it traces how corporate imagery, tourism and new infrastructure continue to shape everyday life long after the crowds have gone. The installation centres on a construction fence used as a screen for a documentary film, accompanied by postcards written by residents to the hosts of the next Winter Olympics and benches with cushions made with repurposed Olympic banners. By transforming an exclusionary architecture into a place for gathering, reflection and exchange, the project proposes collective aftercare as an essential, yet often overlooked legacy of mega-events.