The Garden in the National Collection
The Garden Futures exhibition explores the history and future of the modern garden. To mark the occasion, we have delved into the collection in search of gardens in the Netherlands in the last century.
10 February 2025
The vast majority of the National Collection consists of architecture and urban planning designs. Throughout the collection’s long history, garden and landscape design as independent disciplines have never been part of the collection’s remit. In the archives, we consequently find mainly gardens that are a part of, or a complement to, an architectural design. These gardens are sometimes designed by the architect, sometimes by a named or unknown landscape architect, and sometimes by the residents. The archive documents tell us something about the value placed over time on a private piece of greenery, nature and fresh air – and who was able to afford it.
Nieuwe Instituut manages the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, but is also committed to preserving design archives that are not housed at a cultural institution. With the Memory of the Designed Landscape programme, we are working on a future-proof perspective on the archiving of garden and landscape design.