RIBA is partnering with Google Arts & Culture to launch an innovative new online exhibition of curated stories using items and artifacts culled from its collection in order to highlight the 187-year-old organization's influence on the field.

The announcement was made this week and culminated in the publication of a web platform that will play host to a series of small exhibitions that educate viewers on a slate of different architectural stories: ranging from the construction of Central Park to the civic architecture shaping modern Ghana in a first for any design institution in the UK.

The platform’s 15 stories showcase a variety of items from its collective including photographs, manuscripts, interviews, and drawings by major figures such as Étienne-Louis Boullée and Sir Charles Barry. Viewers can immerse themselves in an architectural tour of Venice or indulge in a history of the picturesque movement before admiring the detail in a photo from RIBA's archive depicting construction on the Louvre’s north wing at the end of the 1840s.

“Our new partnership with Google Arts & Culture creates a great opportunity to inspire and delight a global audience and to showcase our unique treasures. We look forward to curating more online experiences and exhibitions, to illustrate the impact and importance of design and architecture, throughout the ages and around the world,” RIBA CEO Alan Vallance said. 

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Google’s web platform, which has grown from an initial list of 17 partner institutions to over 2,000 in spite of serious criticism and resistance from certain members of the cultural community.

“This is the first step in what we hope will be an inspiring architectural journey with RIBA on Google Arts & Culture,” Director Amit Sood said in a statement.  “RIBA has one of the world’s leading architecture collections and inspires and supports global architectural talent as we look to designing the future.”

RIBA’s Google Arts & Culture page launched May 21 and will be updated by the institution with new exhibitions as they come along.