Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam

The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) is more than a museum. It is an archive, museum, library and cultural podium all in one. The NAI holds important archives and collections of Dutch architects from after 1800 and makes them accessible to the public. The NAI is part of The New Institute.

The New Institute combines architecture, design and e-culture. Since 1 January 2013 it combines all the activities of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), Premsela, Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion, and Virtual Platform, knowledge institute for e-culture. The institute manages and provides access to cultural heritage, including the State Archive for Architecture, encourages research, promotes national and international exhibitions and a programme of lectures and debates, develops educational packages, and has a transdisciplinary platform function.
NAI building

Since 1993 the NAI has been accommodated in a striking building designed by Jo Coenen and situated on the edge of the Museumpark in the centre of Rotterdam. From 2013 on the NAI is the home base of The New Institute, the organisation that is the result of the merger between the NAI, Premsela, Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion, and Virtual Platform, knowledge institute for e-culture. The building houses important archives and collections of Dutch architects from after 1800 and makes them accessible to the public. It facilitates research and offers a platform for discussion. It caters for the general public with exhibitions and presentations in the building and its surroundings. The NAI Café offers visitors an inspiring meeting place.

The New Institute has one of the largest architecture collections in the world: eighteen kilometres of drawings, sketches, scale models, photographs, books, periodicals, etc. The institute is responsible for conserving, managing and providing access to these archives and collections, which contain work by almost every important Dutch architect from the period after 1800, such as the archives of Dudok, Cuypers, Berlage and De Klerk. The library of The New Institute, which is open to the public, contains more than 40,000 books on architecture, design and related disciplines as well as an extensive assortment of national and international periodicals. Researchers, students and other interested parties can consult publications and archives in the tranquillity of the reading room.

The New Institute organises several exhibitions a year to present not only architecture and urban design but also developments in industrial design, graphic design, fashion, games and other aspects of the designed world. The exhibitions are programmed in one of the four exhibition galleries of the NAI building as well as travelling all over the world, from Nijmegen to Mumbai. The materials of the exhibitions are often drawn from the vast collection of the institute.