Platform for Avant-garde & Urban Media Explorations

The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam reopened after considerable reconstruction of the building originally designed by Jo Coenen. So I went there to check out the changes. Two things have changed: the built construction and the programming. Previously, the NAi could only be entered through a narrow and steep bridge that looked inhospitable. A renewed entrance should make the building look more open and welcoming and should, in theory, attract more people.

A new entrance to the NAi. Compare with the early designs and previous situation (below). Picture by LG.

Early design skecth by Jo Coenen hints at a similar entrance. Picture from the NAi website.

And this is what the old entrance looked like. Elegant but not user-friendly, so it must have been real architecture

Upon entering, one sees the restaurant, the NAi Bookshop and the entrance to the exhibition halls. Previously, the restaurant used to be hidden in the proverbial basement and never attracted many people. Now that the entrance is next to the restaurant and can be accessed without accessing the exhibition halls, it seems more popular. My overall impression was that it looks much more inviting.

the new restaurant

the new restaurant

Opposite the restaurant is the bookshop. The old bookshop at the first floor was a favorite of mine, with too many cool books and too little money in my wallet. The new bookshop has moved to this floor. It felt smaller than the old shop but I think that this is an optical illusion. It may be somewhat more compact but the old bookshop never was that big. The books on offer are still very interesting.

the new bookshop

One can find the entrance to the exhibition halls between the restaurant and the bookshop. The exhibition halls have not been redesigned. Interestingly, the face-lift is a further development of the temporal changes made during the last Architecture Biennial. Those changes included a normal access into a the main exhibition hall, with restaurant and bookshop directly accessible. The current new program isn’t that much different, which may show that the previous experiment worked out well. My overall impression was that the NAi is now more open and accessible than in the past. It has lost some of its architectural sternness and has replaced this with a friendlier face. This is all positive.

But there is no shape without content. The second transformation concerns the programming of the NAi. Previously, the NAi would address architects, urban planners and other professionals. While there were some great exhibition (I recall with fondness: the Architecture Biennales by Francine Houben and Kees Christiaanse, the Sao Paulo exhibition and others) many other exhibitions drowned in the self-congratulatory unreadable prose of architects talking to other architects. Especially the more experimental things presented at the top-floor often gave me a headache because there was usually an abundance of inaccessible texts and I suspect no-one else except the author knew what it was about. It gave the overall impression of a closed circle of people who had developed their own particular jargon and didn’t bother telling others about it. ‘Pretentious’ was the word that described the whole affair perfectly.

So, is it any better now? As far as I’m concerned: yes. There is a permanent exhibition that presents a tour of Dutch architecture (Stad van Nederland). It is a reworked version of the old exhibition, this time presented with more dynamism and flair through playful lights and visuals. The top-floor now houses a temporary exhibition (Testify!) about the relationships between architecture and community. Although small, it was really interesting and gave me plenty of things to think about – a great presentation of things that matter. The main exhibition hall features a presentation of Chinese and Dutch design (DwarsDesign). The inevitable Rem Koolhaas and Ai Weiwei were present, as were others.

Overall, the quality of the presentation has improved greatly and there was much to look at and to think about. Although still too early to tell, I think that the aim to reach a wider audience may be achieved. The accessibility of the exhibitions is much better than before. My only complaint is the audio-tour that comes with the permanent Stad van Nederland. The audio consists of people giving uninformed opinions about the buildings on display. My guests were genuinely puzzled because they were expecting some explanations instead of actors going “Oh, I don’t like this building.” There is only thing more annoying than having an uninformed opinion and that is listening to other people with uninformed opinions. I´ve been told that this fits a society were opinions matter more than facts but that doesn´t make it any better for me. Give me facts, please.

This complaint aside, my overall impression is a very positive one and I´ll make a return visit soon. Below some more pictures (made with my cell phone).