ROTTERDAM, 13 March 2026 – Rotterdam is changing how architects and designers are selected for schools, sports facilities and other public buildings. With a new framework for designer selections (Stramien voor Ontwerperselecties), the city says it wants to improve the quality of public buildings while giving talented design studios a fairer chance to take part.
Image: Nicolaasschool, Schiedamseweg 227. Designed by Studio Nuy Van Noort for the Rotterdam Catholic Education Association (Rotterdamse Vereniging voor Katholiek Onderwijs). Completed in September 2025.
Each year, the municipality invests in the renewal or development of around twenty public facilities across Rotterdam. These projects include schools, cultural buildings, sports accommodation and welfare facilities, all of which shape how people experience the city in daily life.
The new framework is meant to make selection procedures more consistent, transparent and better matched to the size of each commission. In practice, that means clearer rules for both commissioners and design teams, with more emphasis on design quality and vision.
Clearer rules for public design work
The framework builds on Rotterdam’s earlier Protocol for Designer Selections from 2014. The updated document sets out concrete steps, criteria and working methods for selecting designers for public projects.
For the city, the aim is to make these procedures easier to follow and more carefully structured. That should make the process clearer for everyone involved, from municipal clients to architects hoping to work on Rotterdam’s next generation of civic buildings.
More room for smaller studios
One of the most notable parts of the new approach is the designers’ pool for smaller commissions. This pool has been in use since 2024 and allows design expertise to be brought in at an earlier stage of a project.
That matters because it gives smaller architecture and design practices more opportunities to work on public commissions that might otherwise go to larger, more established firms. For Rotterdam, it is also a way to widen the pool of ideas shaping the city.
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Rotterdam joins a wider debate
Alderman Chantal Zeegers, whose portfolio includes building and housing, said: “Rotterdam invests every year in new schools, sports spaces and other facilities for the city. With this framework, we make sure designers are selected in a fair and careful way and that smaller firms can also realise their ideas for Rotterdam.”
The municipality says the new approach also fits into a broader national discussion about the quality of public procurement in the design sector. Organisations including the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects, known in Dutch as the Bond van Nederlandse Architecten, and the Board of Government Advisors (College van Rijksadviseurs) have been calling for procedures that give more weight to design quality and professional skill.
Developed with AIR Rotterdam
The framework was developed in collaboration with AIR, the Architecture Institute Rotterdam (Architectuur Instituut Rotterdam). With this step, Rotterdam says it wants to strengthen the quality of public buildings and support a stronger design and building culture in the city.
The city of Rotterdam also points to a recent example of this ambition in practice: the Nicolaasschool at Schiedamseweg 227, designed by Studio Nuy Van Noort for the Rotterdam Catholic Education Association and completed in September 2025.
