Visit the Nieuwe Instituut and Sonneveld House in Rotterdam, the Netherlands national museum for architecture, design and digital culture and a unique museum house dating from 1933. Explore our exhibitions, browse the bookshop, enjoy a coffee on the beautiful terrace of the museum café and experience the seasons with a walk in the wild garden. There are special routes for children with fun activities. Nieuwe Instituut and Sonneveld House are located in Museumpark, within walking distance of Rotterdam’s Central Station, and next to Kunsthal Rotterdam, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Chabot Museum.
Nieuwe Instituut focuses on major developments in society, such as the housing shortage, the climate crisis, and the emergence of artificial intelligence. Designers, including architects and digital creatives, make an important contribution to these developments. Nieuwe Instituut shows the work of designers, brings people together, and collects, develops and shares knowledge.
Research Centre. Design by Sabine Marcelis. Photo Johannes Schwartz.
The National Collection
Nieuwe Instituut looks after the past of the design sector. The National Collection of Dutch Architecture and Urban Design is one of the largest architectural collections in the world, with some four million drawings, models, photographs, letters and digital files. In addition, the institute works in a network context to preserve design archives and archives in the field of garden and landscape architecture. The collection is used for research and exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad. The architecture collection can be consulted online or in the Research Centre, which is open to the public.
The past is a source of inspiration for current issues and for shaping the future. We pay particular attention to important events and developments that have been neglected in the past, such as the work of women in architecture and the influence of the squatter movement on urban development.
Events
Every week, the Nieuwe Instituut presents a varied programme on architecture, design and digital culture, including book launches, Research Nights and the lecture series An Evening With..., featuring new and established names in design.
International activities
Nieuwe Instituut is responsible for the official Dutch contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale. The institute has also organised events in Milan, Shenzhen, Sao Paulo, London, Sharjah and Hong Kong. Nieuwe Instituut also supports Dutch designers who wish to work abroad.
Families and children
Children and young people under 18 can visit the Nieuwe Instituut free of charge. Visit the museum and Sonneveld House with the whole family and discover how to see the world through the eyes of a designer. The special programme shows you how everything around you is designed and how you, as a designer, can make a contribution.
Sonneveld House. Photo Johannes Schwartz
Sonneveld House
This villa on the edge of the Museumpark was designed in the early 1930s and is one of the best-preserved houses in the Dutch Functionalist style. The house is a total work of art in which the building, interior and garden are designed as an integrated whole. The interior, with mainly Gispen furniture, has a striking and unexpected colour palette. A ticket for the Nieuwe Instituut also gives access to Sonneveld House. The museum house can also be visited separately.