The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) is the museum for modern architecture in Rotterdam. You can learn everything about architecture in the museum, from past to present time!

Architecture for everyone
There´s architecture everywhere around you and most of the time you don´t even notice. In Rotterdam you will find a lot of striking architecture such as the NAi building for example. Whether you´re an architecture expert or not, the NAi makes architecture accessible to everyone. It doesn´t matter whether you´re an architecture lover, a student or a tourist! The NAi has even got a lot to offer for kids such as the ´DoeDek´ exposition.

Architecture exhibitions
There are two permanent exhibitions in the NAi: one called ´the Stad van Nederland´ (City of the Netherlands) and the other called ´DoeDek´. The ´Stad van Nederland´ makes you feel what it´s like to live in a city. Will you enjoy the hectic and vibrating life of the city or will you feel you trapped between the buildings? You can experience it yourself while walking along the models that build up the city and listen to the stories of the citizens who will tell how they experience it to live in the city.

With the ´DoeDek´ exposition you can start building your own stuff yourself. There are movies, games and construction materials that you can use to design and even build whatever you like. The ´DoeDek´ exposition is great for kids!

The NAi also organizes temporary expositions besides these two permanent expositions. Please have a look at the NAi website to find out which ones are showing now.

Sonneveld House in Rotterdam
Een another part of the museum is the Sonneveld House (Huis Sonneveld), which is a villa built in the Nieuwe Bouwen style, the Dutch branch of the International School of Modernism. The villa which is located just outside the museum was built in 1932 and has been designed by the same architects as the Van Nelle factory and Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam. When you visit the house you can experience what it was like to like in a hypermodern house in the 1930's. You will feel the atmosphere of the modern 1930's and see the latest household gagdets from that time.

Centre of excellence for architects
The NAi is not just a museum about architecture it´s also the knowledge base for architects and (urban) developers, because the collection of the NAi is one of the biggest architecture collections in the world with drawings, sketches, models, photographs, books, journals and other materials! You will find work from every prominent Dutch architect since 1800 in the archives, including personal archives of famous Dutch architects like Dudok, Cuypers, Berlage and De Klerk.

Architecture Library in Rotterdam
The NAi library contains over 35,000 books on architecture and related disciplines, plus an extensive range of Dutch and international architectural journals. You can read the publications and archives in the reading room. The NAi organizes regularly lectures, discussions and networking events about architecture.