July 22: Rotterdam – Architectuurinstituut 1

The Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (henceforth NAi) is a museum/archive/library in the Museumpark, designed by Jo Coenen and built in 1993. The building comprises a strikingly varied collection of volumes.

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Here, the NAi peeks out from behind the Huis Sonneveld, which we will see more of shortly.

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Attached to the northern end of the NAi is a significantly stealth-fighter-looking sculpture (or sensory array???).

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The archive wing follows the curve of Rochussenstraat and is elevated over street level, leaving this zoom zone underneath.

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We went to the cafeteria for lunch. This palette of wood, concrete, and black steel is almost always a winning combination in my book.

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Central circulation opens up just next to the cafeteria.

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The tall glass volume has a rather unusual, and appealing, configuration of main structure outside the curtain wall.

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Why, what can this Nordic-looking tower be?

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Maybe I was just hallucinating it. Hmm, this curtain wall structure is neato.

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There it is again! What is it?? (Hint: it's the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.)

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Concrete beams levitating over the museum store. What!