Collection

The collection of the Nieuwe Instituut offers an insight into 130 years of development in Dutch architecture and urbanism.

Nieuwe Instituut manages 700 archives and collections of Dutch architects, urban planners, professional associations and educational institutions, comprising a total of some 4,000,000 documents. Besides museum quality drawings, these archives include sketches, preliminary designs, working drawings, business and personal correspondence, photographs, models, posters, press clippings and published articles.

Alongside analogue material, the collection also consists of born digital material; material that is originally produced in digital format, such as 3D-models to images, video footage, animations, renderings and computer code.

The library collects and manages information about Dutch and international architecture, urban design, and related fields such as spatial planning, landscape architecture, interior architecture, art, digital culture and design.

Coming soon

With new design proposals as well as numerous examples from the architecture collection, Designing the Netherlands provides much-needed inspiration for a new vision of the design of our country. On show from 9 December.

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Latest news

More news articles

23 November 2023

Nieuwe Instituut and Netherlands’ Board of Government Advisors present 'Designing the Netherlands: 100 Years of Past & Present Futures'

Exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the National Collection of Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning places the legacies of design and planning in dialogue with the needs of the present and future.

Black and white portrait of John Habraken behind a desk in an office, probably at TU Eindhoven.

15 November 2023

Jo Coenen remembers John Habraken

John Habraken died on 21 October this year. Architect Jo Coenen, a former student of Habraken, reflects on their collaboration and his significance for architecture.

13 November 2023

Theo van Doesburg’s interior model on display at the Kunstmuseum

Theo van Doesburg’s 1926 model of the interior of Café Aubette will be on temporary display at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague.

Black and white photo of cinema interior

2 November 2023

Johannes Duiker in Museu Serralves in Porto

This autumn, the Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal, is showing a large number of drawings and photos of the Zonnestraal sanatorium in Hilversum and the Cineac cinema in Amsterdam.

Search the collection

The search portal gives the public direct online access to one of the world’s largest architecture collections. The State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning contains 1.4 million drawings; 300,000 photographs; 2,500 models and 70,000 books and magazines, which together document the history of Dutch architecture and urbanism.

➝ To the Search Portal

Research Centre

The Research Centre is a space where research, meeting, inspiration, cooperation and exchanging knowledge are central. Drawing around 3000 (inter)national researchers per year, it is pre-eminently a place for the generation of new knowledge. Visitors can consult archive documents and read books and magazines about art, architecture, urban planning and design. In addition, there are often small thematic exhibitions featuring items from the (library) collection. Visitors are welcome to meet, catch up and work together.

➝ Visit the Research Centre