about exhale
Exhale is a social living room, creative studio, and mindfulness studio all housed under one roof, offering students the space to relax and reconnect.
Exhale is a place to escape from the pressures of productivity culture, and simply be. It is where rest and recuperation comes first, where you can connect with others and indulge in the things you love, for enjoyment’s sake and nothing more. At Exhale, you have permission to rest — no one is going to judge you for taking time to unwind. It is a place to be human, to dream, play, (re)connect, and explore. Got a query about how things run here? Check out our FAQs page to see if your question can be answered there.
What do we offer?
Connect
Connect is the heart of Exhale, it's our cosy social living room where students are invited to relax, study, and hang out. Here you can play board games, listen to podcasts, chat with friends, and relax. It’s truly obligation-free. You are welcome to bring your own food and snacks. You don't have to buy anything, become a member, or even be part of any student organisation to call this living room your own.
Creative Studio
The creative studio offers students a studio space to work on their own creative projects. Every evening from 17:00 the creative studio is open and hosted by a studio expert. Want to know more about creative writing? Stop by every Tuesday evening and chat with our creative writing specialist. Want to know more about repurposing vintage clothing? Drop by on a Wednesday evening and our textiles expert will gladly help you hem the lining of that shirt. Find out more about our creative studio and expert programme here.
Workshops & Events
Exhale offers students complimentary workshops, events, and get-togethers completely free of charge. All you have to do is head over to our events page, find a workshop that piques your interest, and reserve a ticket. Exhale is all about collaboration and co-creation. Got an amazing idea for a workshop, event, or get-together that you or a group of you want to organise at Exhale? We want to hear from you! Just fill out this form and our team will get back to you.
How do we do it?
Exhale was created and is run by a tight-knit team of creatives, teachers, thinkers, designers, and professionals in close collaboration with the students of TU Delft. The project was initiated and is powered by X. After seeing the daily lives and desires of students drastically change during the COVID lockdown, X put its ear to the ground and listened. One of its first realisations was that students needed the space that had been taken away during the COVID pandemic to be returned to them. It was time for an open dialogue with students about what their wants and needs truly were.
Responding to this, X decided to invite creative director and project leader Ailisha Shannon and building project manager Donny Koolmees to assemble a new team of experts to create this unique project and erect a whole new building behind X to host it.
Exhale is a temporary project and an open conversation with the students of TU Delft, where collaboration, connection, co-creation is the beating heart. It is a space to examine the wants and needs of students today, and to help bring it into fruition. If you want to know more about the story behind the people who are making this project possible, check out our team page.
Society has done an amazing job at making it seem like you have to carry it all. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Society has done an amazing job at making it seem like you have to carry it all. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our mission
Exhale is an open conversation with students where we explore the space between how we live and how we want to live today. Exhale is an opportunity to redefine our relationships with work, ourselves, and each other. We strive to support and inspire students on their journey of personal growth, creative exploration, and self-discovery. Exhale is a space to challenge conventions rather than conform to them, and to take a step back from the pressures of grind culture. At Exhale, all expectations of productivity, performance, and perfection are left at the door. Let’s explore new paths, try out different things, and find our way. Let’s get ready to Exhale, together.
Why are we doing this?
Things need to change, and we all know it. We have reached a boiling point in the way we live, work, and relate to each other. After so many life-altering events, we have changed. But the world around us and the systems we live by remain the same. The tension this creates in our daily lives is felt by each and every one of us. It's enough to drive us all a little bit mad.
So, what do we do now?
Get overwhelmed and binge Netflix? Start a permaculture commune in the Alps? It’s perfectly understandable to want to bury your head in the sand, because the kind of change we are calling for is BIG, and if we’re perfectly honest, we don't really know where to start. But here’s a thought…
Maybe we don't need to know yet.
How will we see the wood for the trees if we don’t first create space to reconnect with our needs, bodies, and each other? Maybe, what we need is a space to ask questions, start conversations, and get a bit messy. What if we took one big, collective Exhale? We are excited to see what might spring from that space.