PortalsPortals

The digital collection now exceeds 5 TB of data and comprises over 1,000,000 files. As the shift from analogue to digital design practices continues, this volume is rapidly expanding.

Through an audio tour, archivists and researchers share stories about working with born-digital archives. Though paper is enduring, how do we navigate the rapid developments in software and hardware? How do we access files created with obsolete software? How do we ensure the original information isn’t lost? And what level of accessibility does a nonlinear digital archive offer to researchers and users?

Portals primarily draws from the archive, acquired in 2016, of MVRDV architects. On display are the computers that powered MetaCity Datatown, showcasing obsolete hardware, and the 500 CDs required for storing this project. Various renderings of Pig City raise questions about the concept of originality, and the colour collages depicting the design for Expo 2000 in Hannover offer deeper insights into the design process through their use of different techniques – digital, analogue and digitised

Portals also features a selection of books on digital design from the Nieuwe Instituut's library collection, as well as a video by Philipp Thier, a master’s student in Interior Architecture Research and Design at the Piet Zwart Institute. Thier and his peers conducted research on a number of born-digital files from the collection.

You can visit the Research Centre during the museum’s opening hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10.00 to 17.00 and until 21.00 on Thursdays.