An innovative model of a cultural institution, the Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam combines a museum, an archive, a professional agency and various disciplinary areas, from architecture to digital culture, with the aim of fostering debate through research and engagement with the public.
The institute has recently renovated its research center with restyling by Sabine Marcelis, a designer known for her explorations of the material impact of glass, light and resin, and for an attitude that pursues creative reuse of existing resources.
In this case, the contemporary reinterpretation has been applied to the modular furnishings of USM, dating back to the opening of the center in 1993.
The transparent interior design of Sabine Marcelis
The aim of the renovation was to encourage academic research on the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, making it accessible to the public and extending the functional range of the former studio space to ensure greater interaction with users.
Sabine Marcelis’ project contributes to bring luminosity to a space that seemed dark and heavy at first glance, but has now been transformed as a welcoming, bright atmosphere. Besides eliminating several walls to bring natural light inside, the designer has revitalized the iconic pieces by USM, mixing them with panels of colored glass and other elements in resin.
The interesting game of colors and transparencies has given the interiors a new, decidedly vibrant and more inviting tone, suitable for research work but also for encounters and exchanges. The modules formulate a proxemic structure, defining multiple zones: they are combined and arranged to form bookcases of different heights around the study zone, while at the same time functioning for the fluid separation between this area and the more informal spaces for research and consulting.
