Presskit
For interviews and press enquiries, please contact:
Elisabeth Kuijt
press@iabr.nl
+31 (0)6 22 31 23 49
At a time when systems around the world are under increasing pressure from climate change, resource scarcity and social inequality, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam explores how we can build new systems that support life rather than deplete it. SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT investigates how design, architecture and spatial imagination can contribute to a fair, regenerative and locally rooted future. The biennale presents new ways of organising energy, water, food, logistics, production and housing through collaboration, public values and ecological balance.
The curatorial team of SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT is led by Wouter Veldhuis (architect, urban designer and former Government Advisor on the Physical Living Environment) and further consists of Carola Hein (Professor of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning) and Martina Muzi (curator, designer and educator). Together, they explore how design can help make complex systems understandable, tangible and imaginable for everyone.
Their biographies can be found on this page.
Exhibition at the Piekfabriek on the Hunter Douglas terrain
From 18 September to 29 November 2026, the IABR presents SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT, an exhibition for both a broad public audience and professionals working in architecture, urbanism, landscape, design, policy and research. The biennale brings together exhibitions, prototypes, stories, conversations, research and public program at a distinctive Rotterdam location where thinking, making and experimentation take centre stage.
Through inspiring examples from the Netherlands and abroad, SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT reveals how new economic and spatial systems can take shape. Systems driven not by extraction and endless growth, but by proximity, reciprocity and collective resilience.
Participants and projects will be announced in June.
Public Program
SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT consists of multiple components, including an extensive public program of lectures, conversations and workshops, as well as a range of research and design trajectories that make visible the relationships between economy, ecology, infrastructure and everyday life. From Rotterdam, the biennale connects local questions to global systems and demonstrates how design can contribute to a future in which all forms of life are supported.
The full program will be announced in June.
Money Talks
Today, designers operate within complex financial, ecological and social systems. Projects are shaped not only by the quality of design, but also by investment logics, ownership structures, regulations and business models. At the same time, the role of the designer is under pressure: how can designers create meaningful societal impact and develop future-proof projects within these systems?
With Money Talks, the IABR creates space to explore these questions collectively. The learning trajectory brings together designers, developers and financial experts to develop new perspectives on value creation, collaboration and long-term development.
About the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR)
The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) stimulates research by design across the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism. Every two years, the IABR presents an extensive cultural public program that celebrates the imaginative power of architecture in addressing the humanitarian, spatial, economic and societal consequences of a changing climate.
IABR hashtags for social media
#IABR2026 #SystemsOfSupport