Plan Your Visit
We’re Open!
From 10 August until mid-December 2026, the Nieuwe Instituut will be renovating and greening its building. A new wooden roof is being installed on the museum wing, so the museum galleries will be closed temporarily. However, there will still be plenty to see and do at other locations in and around the building.
Renovation and greening
The Nieuwe Instituut building was designed by architect Jo Coenen and dates back to 1993. Over 30 years after its completion, the museum wing requires a new roof. JCAU, Coenen’s firm, has designed the structure and cladding of the new roof in keeping with the original design and the principles of the Nieuwe Instituut Zoöp.
What will this mean for visitors to the Nieuwe Instituut?
What will this mean for visitors to the Nieuwe Instituut? Galleries 1, 2, 3 and -1 will be closed from 10 August to mid-December 2026. All other spaces will remain open as usual.
Admission to the building will be free during this period. However, tickets must be purchased for certain events and for Sonneveld House. The combined ticket for Sonneveld House and the Nieuwe Instituut will be unavailable during the renovations.
The accessibility and availability of the Nieuwe Instituut will not be affected.
What’s on during the renovation?
We will be using the Deck and the Re-Centre as exhibition spaces during the renovation. You can always find the latest offerings here.
Highlights
Events
Between August and December, there will be a variety of events inside and outside the building. These include the Zomerbouwweken and the FamilieFest for children and families. For adults there are the free Thursday Night Detours, the urban lessons of the After Summer School in collaboration with our Rotterdam partners, a new edition of the Design Fair, the Open Model Storage Depot during the Open Monument Days, and new instalments of our talk show series An Evening With, featuring Yinka Ilori, Glenn DeRoche, Peterson Stoop and others.
Ongoing
In the foyer, the New Store is our museum shop and a testing ground for regenerative design and shopping. You’ll also find the bookshop NAi Booksellers and the Nieuwe Café there. The screen in the entrance area is dedicated to digital culture and serves as a platform for -1 Digital Lab, AFFR and other creators.
The Sonneveld House Museum also remains open as usual, at the regular admission price.
Be sure to explore the area around the building too, including the New Garden – our testing ground for biodiversity and urban nature – as well as Peter Struycken’s light art installation, Lebbeus Woods’ façade artwork and Auke de Vries’ sculpture.
