The present day

Since the 1980s Dutch architects such as Rem Koolhaas and MVRDV have tried out new ways of building dense cities, and colourful museums have opened in the provinces.

The Groninger Museum, opened in 1994 and co-ordinated by Alessandro Mendini, is a colourful island of pavilions in a canal. Rem Koolhaas and his practice OMA in Rotterdam designed the Kunsthal and buildings all over the world, and MVRDV stacks homes and boxes into new urban forms.

• Groninger Museum