Stimuleringsfonds

From 4 December 2026 until 27 June 2027, Nieuwe Instituut will host the exhibition Prix de Rome Architecture 2026. Nominees Dérive (Hedwig van der Linden and Kevin Westerveld), Maarten Plomp and Iris van der Wal, Namelok (Wiegert Ambagts and Kaj van Boheemen), and Słodka x Zatta (Izabela Słodka and Federica Zatta) present four distinct interpretations of Terminal Velocity, the central theme of the Prix de Rome Architecture 2026.

During a four-month working period, the nominees developed a spatial intervention for a location of their choice. They investigated how accelerating developments are shaping these sites and transforming the world faster than we can respond. The locations chosen were the new ASML chip manufacturing campus in Eindhoven, where the spatial consequences of digitisation-driven industrial growth are deliberately concealed; the former Ministry of Social Affairs building in The Hague, which is due to make way for new construction, putting still-usable building components at risk of being lost; the Krimpenerwaard peat meadow landscape, where efforts to preserve the area are paradoxically contributing to its gradual disappearance; and the former CSM sugar factory site in Breda, where new housing development is being fast-tracked after the site was designated as an accelerated development area by the Dutch government.

award ceremony

The winner of the Prix de Rome Architecture 2026 will be announced during a festive evening programme on 17 December. Rianne Letschert, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, will present the prize, worth €60,000, together with a residency of the winner's choice.

The Prix de Rome Architecture is the Netherlands' oldest award for architects, urban planners, landscape architects and other spatial designers under the age of 40. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the prize is organised every four years by the Creative Industries Fund NL. The accompanying publication is published by Jap Sam Books.