Disclosing ArchitectureDisclosing Architecture

Disclosing Architecture is more than a restoration project. Primarily, the programme aims to preserve the National Collection that Het Nieuwe Instituut manages, which involves the conservation or restoration of hundreds of thousands of design drawings, more than 300,000 photographic prints and the entire Van Doesburg collection. In additional to this however, Disclosing Architecture also aims to make the architecture archives more accessible, to the widest possible audience, now and in the future.

Linked open data, digitisation, machine learning and data visualisation offer unprecedented opportunities for online publication that connects collections and opens them up to new users. Innovating heritage through technology, but also by looking at it from new perspectives. Because heritage is only future-proof when we realise that a collection is not a neutral representation of history, but a construction that has arisen through time and policy. The value and meaning of a collection are constantly changing. Disclosing Architecture therefore also includes research projects that critically question the National Collection and generate new ideas for the (re)valuation of historical sources.

Various sub-projects have been defined within three programme lines: Sustainable, Usable and Visible. Together, they give substance to the overarching objectives of the programme: preserving Dutch heritage in the field of architecture and urban planning and making it available digitally, increasing the physical accessibility of the collection, and making the digitised collection more widely accessible.