Festival heart Rotterdam Architecture Month settles on the roof of Het Nieuwe Instituut

The neon-pink installation with its imposing exterior staircase, designed by architects MVRDV, offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience architecture, the city, Museum Park and the Instituut from a whole new perspective.

Another high-level crowd-puller designed by architectural firm MVRDV

Rotterdam is gaining a unique, temporary vantage point this summer. Rotterdam Architecture Month (RA Month) and Het Nieuwe Instituut are joining forces to build an urban podium on the roof of Het Nieuwe Instituut. Architecture events will be held at The Podium throughout the month of June. The Podium can be visited free of charge via a lift and a giant staircase along the institute’s façade.

The neon-pink installation with its imposing exterior staircase, designed by architects MVRDV, offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience architecture, the city, Museum Park and the Instituut from a whole new perspective. The Podium on Het Nieuwe Instituut can be seen as a logical successor to other impressive scaffolding installations designed by MVRDV. In 2017, for instance, the firm placed a gigantic staircase on Rotterdam’s Stationsplein as part of the city’s 75th anniversary of post-war reconstruction, and the Rotterdam Rooftop Days recently announced that it will build a Rotterdam Rooftop Walk above the centre of Rotterdam this year, also designed by MVRDV.

Photo: MVRDV

Vista Rotterdam

The theme for the upcoming edition of RA Month is appropriately enough ‘Vista Rotterdam’. What are the vistas? Together with visitors, professionals and students, RA Month zooms in on a pleasant living environment and focuses on the essential role of the design and designer in the spatial transitions that society is facing.

Festival Heart Rotterdam Architecture Month

Het Nieuwe Instituut will be renamed the Festival Heart of RA Month 2022 for the entire month of June. On 1 June 2022, it will be opened in festive style at The Podium with an opening lecture by a well-known architect. It kicks off a month of festivals, lectures, talks, films, tours and exhibitions about architecture. The main exhibition of RA Month has found a fitting home in Gallery 1 at Het Nieuwe Instituut. With the theme ‘(T)huis’ (House/Home), the main exhibition ties in with the theme of the Day of Architecture.

The Podium

The Podium at Het Nieuwe Instituut is realized with support from the Municipality of Rotterdam, MVRDV, Rotterdam Architecture Month, Rotterdam Partners, Rotterdam Festivals, Foundation Job Dura Fund, Foundation Collection van Wijngaarden-Boot, Foundation Volkskracht, the VriendenLoterij, Dutch Steigers and Dura Vermeer. The Podium will remain open after RA Month for other cultural activities until 17 August. After RA Month, other cultural partners are invited to contribute items for the programme at The Podium.

About RA Month

RA Month takes place in June each year and chooses an appropriate new location for the Festival Heart each edition. It is the place where the power of architecture and design presents and renews itself in relation to urgent social issues. RA Month highlights the significance of design and design power in a changing city and encourages encounters and knowledge exchange between visitors, educational institutions and the design sector. Over 80 partners have already joined RA Month. Rotterdam Architecture Month is an initiative of AIR, Architecture Institute Rotterdam, Rotterdam Festivals and Rotterdam Partners.

About Het Nieuwe Instituut

Het Nieuwe Instituut is the national institute for architecture, design and digital culture. Located in the city of architecture Rotterdam, in Museumpark, Het Nieuwe Instituut has a variety of exhibition spaces, a museum shop, a museum café, a study room and library, an auditorium, educational spaces and a garden. It maintains one of the largest architectural collections in the world.