‘How can we design a meaningful and relevant research platform that will support futures of sustainability?’ was the question guiding the two-and-a-half-year- long, co-creative and emergent metadesign process of establishing a new research platform at the Department of Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden. The meta focus on developing a whole research environment, as a design practice and design research endeavour, should be valuable for the design research community. Findings concern the viability of co-creative approaches in such a remit, negotiations of artistic/scientific research conventions, and the design institution’s position in the multi-disciplined university. The research has identified tensions and conflicts between the academic institution and construct, and the application of ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies deemed auspicious for sustainability endeavours. The paper itself is a collaborative effort between eleven of the researchers involved in developing the research platform.