The NAI (Netherlands Architektur Institute) was founded in 1988 and in October 1993 it opened its new facilities designed by the Dutch architect Jo Coenen. The building, in close relationship with the urban environment of Rotterdam, is located in the museum area of the Dutch capital and carries out extraordinary work in the knowledge and dissemination of Dutch architecture both nationally and internationally. The new museum is a free-standing work, which seems to float on a sheet of water, recalling the geographical context of the Netherlands. It is made up of three large differentiated volumes, a Museum, an Archive of the History of Dutch Architecture and a Library, all designed as independent cells. 

The center of the building is a glass solid about seven stories high, where the offices and reading rooms are located. It acts as a compass that, due to its transparency, interrelates with the museum context that is around it, contrasting the open parts of this space with the closed parts of the archives. Perhaps Coenen's most striking achievement is the way he manipulates the direct light that enters the glass façade, taking into account the reflection of sunlight in the sheet of water that frames the building. These constants give it its own character that fills it with personality.

The second, shorter block, raised on concrete pillars and closed in nature, is shaped like a half-moon and surrounds the previous building. The storage and cataloging area of the Dutch Architectural Archives is located here and it is where all the study and research work on all these materials is carried out. The archive plays an important role as a separate 200-meter-long building, in the construction of which materials such as red aluminum, iron and concrete are used. Because it is a dense mass, Coenen decided to raise it to give it a feeling of lightness and stylize it. Said space, being elevated above the ground, has the lower part accessible to the public, its colorful changing lighting becoming an attraction.

The building was renovated and opened to the public on July 1, 2011, producing a series of changes, which did not affect the general structure of the project. These focused on the entrance and pond, the expansion of the restaurant and the addition of an exhibition hall and space for educational activities. Jo Coenen, creator of the building, actively participated in its renovation.

Mariano J. RUIZ DE AEL