SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT

2026 – 12th edition

September 18 – November 29, 2026

The Piekfabriek at the Hunter Douglas terrain, Piekstraat 2, Rotterdam

Get your ticket ▶ Check the public program ▶

From 18 September to 29 November 2026, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) presents its 12th edition: SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT. For more than 20 years, the IABR has brought together designers, researchers, policymakers, knowledge institutions and residents to explore how design can contribute to the major challenges facing society today.

With SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT, the IABR focuses on the systems that make our daily lives possible, from water, energy and materials to housing and infrastructure. Many of these systems are under pressure. How can we transform them to make them not only more efficient, but also fairer, more resilient and fit for the future? And what role can architecture, urban design and landscape architecture play?

At the Piekfabriek at the former Hunter Douglas site in Rotterdam, the biennale brings together an exhibition, an extensive public program and collaborations with partners. For many years, this was a place of industry and production. Today, the former factory site is being transformed into a new place to live and work. This makes it a fitting location for SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT. The changes taking place here raise questions about housing, energy, materials, the surrounding neighborhood and what we carry forward from the past. The site itself makes the themes of the biennale visible.

De Piekfabriek, at the Hunter Douglas terrain. Image: Sabine van der Vooren

Discover more than 50 projects from the Netherlands and abroad

The exhibition is at the heart of SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT. More than 50 designs, research projects, installations, films and spatial presentations reveal how the systems behind water, energy, materials, housing and infrastructure shape our living environment. They show not only where these systems are failing, but above all how things can be done differently.

What new possibilities emerge when designers question and redesign existing systems? And what does this mean for how we live, build and coexist in the future? Discover it here.

Get your ticket ▶ More about the exhibition ▶

Join an event in the public program

Throughout the biennale, the IABR presents an extensive public program for professionals, students and the wider public. From large symposia to small scale conversations and guided tours, each event offers a new perspective on the themes of SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT. Which event will you join?

The public program is being announced in phases. New events will be added to the program in the coming period.

Check out the public program ▶

Want to know more about SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT?

Curious about the ideas behind the biennale? Or want to learn more about the societal questions at the heart of SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT? Our short introduction explains what the 12th edition of the IABR is about and introduces the key ideas behind the exhibition.

For a deeper dive, the curatorial statement provides more extensive background on the central ideas of the biennale. In it Carola Hein, Martina Muzi, Saskia van Stein and Wouter Veldhuis explain why today’s economic, ecological and social systems require fundamental change, what role architecture can play and why the IABR sees itself as a SYSTEM OF SUPPORT: a place where knowledge, exchange, experimentation and collaboration come together to develop new perspectives for the future.

Read the vision on SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT ▶ Curatorial statement SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT ▶

Curators of IABR 2026 SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT

Wouter Veldhuis, chief curator

Wouter Veldhuis is co-founder of MUST, an interdisciplinary design office with branches in Amsterdam and Cologne. Driven by a search for greater justice, he works strategically on reshaping spatial relations and letting go of outdated patterns that are no longer viable. Wouter uses design and imagination as powerful tools to expand society’s capacity to envision alternative futures—futures in which landscapes and communities can once again come into balance.
Between 2020 and 2025, Wouter served as the Chief Government Advisor on the Physical Living Environment (Rijksadviseur voor de Fysieke Leefomgeving). In this role, he focused on understanding the spatial consequences of long-term challenges at the intersection of ecology, sociology, and economics. Under the motto “The 22nd century starts now,” he and the team of the Board of Government Advisors demonstrated in multi-day Future Labs that many major transitions require immediate, concrete actions to achieve national goals. His work resulted in several advisory reports to the Dutch government on topics such as the future economy and spatial use, the energy transition, climate adaptation, and strengthening social and spatial structures in cities and villages. Examples include The Economy of the Future Begins in the Delta (2024), The Logistics of Tomorrow Starts Today (2023), and Building in the Neighborhood (2022).
In addition to his regular work, Wouter and Simon Franke have been engaged in a long-term exploration of the Just City. Interim findings have been published in Verkenning van de Rechtvaardige Stad: stedenbouw en de economisering van de ruimte (2018) and Onderweg naar de Rechtvaardige Stad: over nabijheid, vertrouwen, wederkerigheid en gemeenschapsvorming (2024). Based on these publications, Simon and Wouter—together with Jorn Konijn and Saskia Naafs—curated the successful exhibition De Rechtvaardige Stad at the Van Eesteren Museum in Amsterdam.
From 2012 to 2018, Wouter was Head of the Urbanism Master’s Programme at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. During this period, he strongly emphasized the social responsibility of urban designers and architects. The leading motto of the curriculum was Anchored Craftsmanship, giving students space to develop and apply their design skills within complex societal challenges. This included a long-term collaboration with Morgan State University in Baltimore.
As a member of the Amsterdam Council for Urban Development and the Stad-Forum, Wouter advised the City of Amsterdam from 2005 to 2020 on numerous spatial issues. As chair of the Stad-Forum, he initiated several major public programmes on the city’s future, such as the Week of Water (2013) and In de Ban van de Ring (2014). He was also responsible for the Masterplan Space for the Inner City (2017) and a three-year exploration of everyday life in the Amsterdam metropolitan region, published as Thuis is… zo vertrouwd dat het onzichtbaar is (2021).
Wouter currently serves as Chair of the EFL Foundation, an independent foundation dedicated on the one hand to preserving and managing the archives, copyrights, and intellectual legacy of Cornelis van Eesteren and Theodoor van Lohuizen, and on the other hand to stimulating the development of urbanism, planning, and landscape architecture through targeted grants. He is also a member of the advisory committee for funding concrete projects within the Utrecht Province programme Groen Groeit Mee.
With MUST, Wouter has realized numerous projects focusing mainly on inner-city transformation and densification. MUST continuously explores and defines emerging spatial and societal challenges. This began in 1998 with the organisation of Groundcontrol, a three-year programme for recently graduated urban designers and landscape architects across Europe, aimed at identifying contemporary social and spatial questions. Results were published in Euroscapes (2003). For many years, Wouter collaborated with Ivan Nio to bridge the gap between the planned renewal of Amsterdam’s Western Garden Cities and the lived experience of residents in these post-war neighborhoods. Findings were captured in the Atlas van de Westelijke Tuinsteden (2008) and Nieuw-West: Parkstad of Stadswijk (2016). He also conducted long-term research into the spatial quality of Dutch motorways (Atlas van de Snelwegomgeving) and was closely involved in exploring the spatial impact of Roman history in the Netherlands (Limes Atlas).
Wouter gained his first exhibition experience with his contribution to Hybrid Landscapes in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2004. He later contributed multiple times to the IABR, including a major design-research project on an inclusive and healthy Utrecht for IABR–2016: The Next Economy.
Between 2020 and 2025, as Government Advisor for the Physical Environment, Wouter worked hard to understand the spatial consequences of long-term challenges at the intersection of ecology, sociology, and economics. Under the motto “The 22nd century begins now,” he and the team from the Office of the Chief Government Architect and Government Advisors demonstrated during multi-day Future Workshops that many of these major challenges require concrete steps to be taken in the short term to achieve the intended national goals. This has led to various recommendations to the Dutch government in the areas of economy and land use, energy transition, climate adaptation, and the strengthening of social and spatial structures in cities and towns. Examples include: The Economy of the Future Starts in the Delta (2024), Tomorrow’s Logistics Start Today (2023), and Building in the Neighborhood (2022).
In addition to his regular work, Wouter, together with Simon Franke, is involved in a long-term exploration of the Just City. The interim results of this research have been published in two volumes: Exploring the Just City, Urban Planning, and the Economization of Space (2018) and On the Way to the Just City: On Proximity, Trust, Reciprocity, and Community Building (2024). Following these publications, Simon and Wouter, together with Jorn Konijn and Saskia Naafs, curated the successful exhibition The Just City at the Van Eesteren Museum in Amsterdam.
From 2012 to 2018, Wouter Veldhuis was head of the Master’s program in Urban Design at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. During this period, he explicitly placed the social responsibility of urban planners and architects on the agenda. The guiding motto for the educational program was “Anchored Craftsmanship,” in which students were given the space to train their design skills while simultaneously applying them to complex social challenges. This led, among other things, to a long-standing collaboration with Morgan State University in Baltimore.
As a member of the Amsterdam Council for Urban Development and Stad-Forum, Wouter advised the City of Amsterdam on numerous spatial issues from 2005 to 2020. In particular, as the driving force behind Stad-Forum, he initiated a number of major public events on the future of the city: Water Week in 2013 and In the Spell of the Ring in 2014. In addition, he was responsible for the Master Plan for the Inner City (2017) and the three-year study on everyday life in the Amsterdam region, compiled in the publication *Home Is… So Familiar It’s Invisible* (2021).
Currently, Wouter serves as chairman of the EFL Foundation. This is an independent foundation dedicated, on the one hand, to preserving and managing the archives, copyrights, and intellectual legacy of Cornelis van Eesteren and Theodoor van Lohuizen. On the other hand, the foundation uses grants to promote the development of urban design, urban planning, and landscape architecture in the spirit of its namesakes. In addition, Wouter is a member of the Advisory Committee for the funding of specific projects within the “Groen Groeit Mee” (Green Grows With Us) partnership program in the Province of Utrecht.
With MUST, Wouter has realized countless projects, primarily focused on inner-city transformation and densification. In addition, MUST is constantly engaged in exploring and formulating spatial and social challenges. This began as early as 1998 with the organization of the Groundcontrol event, a three-year program for recently graduated urban planners and landscape architects in Europe, seeking to address contemporary social and spatial issues. The results were published, among other places, in the book Euroscapes (2003). For many years, Wouter worked alongside Ivan Nio to bridge the gap between the planned renewal of Amsterdam’s Western Garden Cities and the lived experiences of residents in these post-war reconstruction neighborhoods. Their findings are documented in publications such as the Atlas of the Western Garden Cities (2008) and Nieuw-West: Park City or Urban Neighborhood (2016). In addition, Wouter has conducted years of research into the spatial quality of Dutch highways (Atlas of the Highway Environment) and has been closely involved in exploring the spatial impact of Roman history in the Netherlands (Limes Atlas).
Wouter gained his first experience with exhibitions through his contribution to the Hybrid Landscapes exhibition in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2004. Since then, Wouter has contributed to the IABR on multiple occasions. His most significant contribution was the design research into an inclusive and healthy Utrecht as part of IABR2016: The Next Economy.
Carola Hein, curator

Professor and Head, Chair History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology. Professor of Water, Ports and Historic Cities at Erasmus University and Leiden University. UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities. Director Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) PortCityFutures Centre.
She has published widely in the field of architectural, urban and planning history and has tied historical analysis to contemporary development. She has received major grants, including from the Dutch NWO, from the Volkswagen Foundation and the European Union (Horizon, Interreg, etc.) Among other major grants, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and a Volkswagen Foundation grant for mixed method digital humanities projects ArchiMediaL and Time Travel. Her many honours include the Sarton Medal in 2020, awarded to an outstanding scholar in the history of science. Her work focuses on long-term developments, multi-scalar and multi-stakeholder approaches. She advocates for culture-led and value based approaches. Her research has focused on capital cities, disaster and rebuilding, the transmission of architectural and urban ideas, the theme of water and heritage, port cities and the global architecture of oil.
In her edited book Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (Hein, 2011) she first proposed the concept of the spatial impact of port related flows on cities and territories, the PortCityScape. Over the next decade, she continued her work on commodity flows in port cities and territories, focusing on the importance of long-term development and path dependencies. The co-authored Port City Atlas: Mapping European Port City Territories: From Understanding to design (2023) establishes the concept of port city territories and explores 100 European port city territories through unified mapping.
Following her appointment as professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2014, she has combined her interest in port cities with the GIS-based research tradition of the Chair History of Architecture and Urban Planning. Her article ‘Oil Spaces: The Global Petroleumscape in the Rotterdam/The Hague Area’ (Hein, 2018) describes the close link between water and oil. Her edited book Oil Spaces: Exploring the Global Petroleumscape (Hein 2021) analyses the close link between shipping, water, oil and ports.
Her interest in water and heritage are evidenced through the edited volume Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020) and the co-edited book Urbanisation of Sea (Couling, Hein 2020). She also edited The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018), which was awarded the 2018 IPHS Special Book Prize.
She serves as President of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and is a former President of the Global Urban History Project. She serves as IPHS Editor for Planning Perspectives, as editor of the European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes and Asia book review editor for Journal of Urban History. She edits the Connexions section of Planning Perspectives, co-edits CPCL, and is editor in chief of the open access, peer-reviewed Blue Papers, a journal on water, culture, heritage and sustainable development.
Her (co-)edited books and monographs include: Hustle and Bustle of Port Cities (2025), Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisation of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018), Uzō Nishiyama, Reflections on Urban, Regional and National Space (2017), History, Urbanism, Resilience, Proceedings of the 2016 IPHS conference (2016), Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (2011), Brussels: Perspectives on a European Capital (2007), European Brussels. Whose capital? Whose city? (2006), The Capital of Europe. (2004), Rebuilding Urban Japan after 1945 (2003), and Cities, Autonomy and Decentralisation in Japan. (2006), Hauptstadt Berlin 1957-58 (1991).
Martina Muzi, curator

Martina Muzi is a designer, curator, and educator. She investigates the role of design within the complex networks of material logistics, geopolitical cultures, and social structures, with a particular focus on how design practices reveal and question underlying systems. Her work has been presented internationally at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, the Istanbul Biennial, the MAAT Museum Lisbon, and the M+ Museum of Visual Culture in Hong Kong.
Martina is currently engaged as curator of Design Signals at FABER in Timișoara, Romania, a program dedicated to design research and practices. It invites designers to apply different media, techniques, skills and languages to explore the hidden narratives and the untapped resources within the Romanian industrial ecosystem. Since 2024 she has collaborated with MAXXI the National Museum of XXI Century Arts and Architecture in Rome where she curates the pluriennial project ENTRATE, a program which rethinks the entrance hall of the museum as a public place of interaction between the public and design through the work of invited design practitioners.
Muzi leads the BA programme Studio Technogeographies at Design Academy Eindhoven and serves as the curator of the GEO—DESIGN exhibitions platform at Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, now a digital platform, where design explores new perspectives on global and technological developments through contemporary thematics of investigation.