New Collection Gallery opens at the Nieuwe Instituut
This interactive, hybrid space brings 150 years of Dutch architecture and urban planning to life.
12 May 2026
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On Thursday 18 June, the Nieuwe Instituut – the national museum for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam – will open its new Collection Gallery.
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In this interactive, hybrid space featuring projections, mirror panels, scale models and drawings, the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, managed by the Nieuwe Instituut, comes to life.
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Visitors will embark on a journey of discovery through 4 million items and 150 years of stories about the design of the Dutch built environment, exploring themes such as housing shortages, colonial architecture, garden cities, digitisation and the role of female architects.
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The Collection Gallery will be open to the public for three years.
Everything in our living environment was designed at some point. From landscapes and cities to the places where we meet, the houses we live in and the objects we use each day, everything is the result of designers’ choices, questions and ideas. The way we shape and design our living environment reflects our thoughts on society. In the designed world, everything is interconnected, from the smallest element to the largest whole.
This fact lies at the heart of the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, which is managed by the Nieuwe Instituut – the Netherlands’ national museum for architecture, design and digital culture – in Rotterdam.
With around 4 million items ranging from drawings and models to design sketches, study materials and correspondence, this is one of the world’s largest architecture collections. It contains countless inspiring examples of how designers from the world-leading Dutch tradition of architecture and spatial planning have addressed universal challenges such as housing shortages, land use, environmental issues and social justice.
Collection Gallery opening
One of the Nieuwe Instituut's goals is to make the National Collection accessible to all. Therefore, the new Collection Gallery is opening on Thursday, 18 June. This interactive, hybrid space features projections, mirrored panels, scale models and drawings, bringing the National Collection of Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning vividly to life.
Visitors will embark on a journey of discovery through 150 years of stories about the design of the Dutch built environment. Many of these themes remain relevant today, including housing shortages, colonial architecture, garden cities, computer-aided design and the role of female architects. Visitors are in control and during the three years on show, objects will be rotated and stories will be added, in response to current events. This ensures there is always something new to discover.
The new Collection Gallery embodies everything that the Nieuwe Instituut stands for: a collection that belongs to everyone, and which everyone can explore. With more than 150 years of design history, the National Collection shows how Dutch architects and urban planners have consistently found answers to major questions about living and sharing space. Such questions remain just as urgent today. The richness of the collection lies not only in well-known names and iconic buildings, but also in its stories, which cover topics such as female architects, the squatters’ movement, the history of colonial architecture and the first computer-aided design.
Further information
Nieuwe Instituut’s new Collection Gallery will officially open on Thursday 18 June and will be open to the public for at least three years. Space Popular is responsible for the overarching concept, spatial design and interaction design. The graphic design is by Mariana Lobao en Jaco Schilp. The conceptual content and material selections were created by the Collection department of the Nieuwe Instituut, with contributions from a number of advisors.
At the same time, Just In #2 will open, an exhibition that showcases 13 recent acquisitions for the National Collection, and which offers a glimpse into the archival practices of the Nieuwe Instituut.
The National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning can also always be accessed via the Nieuwe Instituut’s Re-Centre and online Collection Platform. Here, visitors can explore the collection through stories, objects and relationships in an intuitive and associative way.
Note to editors, not for publication
Accompanying images are available here.
Press preview
All members of the press are invited to view and try out the Collection Gallery in the weeks leading up to the public opening on 18 June. Please contact us to arrange an appointment.
Contact
Robin van Essel, Press Officer
+31 (0)6 3803 9218, r.vanessel@nieuweinstuut.nl