Het Nieuwe Instituut and villa Sonneveld

Netherlands Institute for Architecture, Design & e-culture and villa Sonneveld

The building itself is a design by Jo Coenen. The three functions of the institute are housed in identifyable parts: the archive in the bend on the norht side, the staff and library in the high rise and the exhibition area on the east side. The arcade is lit by coloured light tubes at night and constitutes a dynamic work of light art by Peter Struyken.

The NAi is not a real museum, but a centre for information and documentation on Dutch and International architecture, city and country planning, design and e-culture. There is library and an exhibition area for exhibitions on the subjects mentioned above. For recently updated information look at the website.

At Jongkindstraat nr 12 is the villa Sonneveld (1933). The house was built by Brinkman en Van der Vlugt in 1929-33. Sonneveld was a member of the board of the Van Nelle coffee, tea and tobacco factory, also designed by the same architects.  The interior decoration is modernist to the finest detail. and was a total breach with traditional housing for the Sonneveld family. They moved here in 1933 without a single piece of existing furniture.  In 1999 the Nederlands Architectuur instituut acquired the house. The house is now open to visitors, and has a meticulously restored interior. Tickets are availbable from the Niewe Instituut

Ned. Architectuur instituut
Museumpark 25
3015 CB Rotterdam
Telefoon : 010-4401200 Fax : 010-4366975
website: http://www.hetnieuweintsituut.nl/en


open tue-sat 10.00-17.00 hrs; sun 11.00-17.00 hrs;

trams: 4 and 5 (ap Eendrachtsplein)
metro station Eendrachtsplein