Designed by MAD Architects, the FENIX Museum of Migration is set to be inaugurated in 2025 in Rotterdam’s City Harbor. The purpose of the institution is to showcase and highlight the stories of global migration through encounters with art, architecture, photography, and history. The museum broke ground in 2020 when the first images of the proposal were also released. MAD Architects is working with Bureau Polderman for the restoration of the historic warehouse dating back to 1932, which now represents the base and starting point for the museum experience.
The project includes the rehabilitation of the 16,000 square meter building on site, once the largest warehouse in the world functioning as the center for storage and shipping for the Holland-America Line - a Dutch cargo and passenger line. The institution facilitated the journey of millions of migrants in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The new museum aims to continue to explore this story of human migration. As such, the ground floor will be occupied by three keynote projects: the Maze, a monumental installation made up of 2,000 donated suitcases; the “Family of Migrants” photographic installation composed of documentary images and portraits delving into the themes raised by human movement, family love, the danger of the voyage, and saying goodbye; and a vast flexible space of 2,275 square meters aiming to encourage a new approach for the curatorial role of the museum
Above the historic warehouse, the Tornado will announce the dynamic character of the museum and become a symbol of the tumultuous journeys experienced by migrants globally. The organic structure climbs from the ground floor and flows up and out of the rooftop, becoming a platform for contemplating perspectives of the city of Rotterdam, with views of the River Maas and Hotel New York, formerly the headquarters of the Holland-America Line.
When MAD Architects were asked to work on FENIX, we knew we had to create a dialogue with the existing building and its surroundings – and with a past containing so many stories of migration, memories, and uncertainty. In designing a new structure, we had to show this dialogue between the future and the past, and so continue the story of the building. The Tornado is all about the future, but it’s rooted in the past. For me, it’s a metaphor for the journeys of migrants who passed through this building. - Ma Yansong, Founder & Principal Partner, MAD Architects
Recently, a new exhibition opened in the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in China focused on the work of MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano, spanning nearly two decades and 52 projects. The office has also recently revealed the design of the Ark, a warehouse renovation project set to transform a former industrial site in Shanghai into a cultural center for creativity and commerce. Similarly, MAD Architects has also unveiled plans to build a new art center in the Zhejiang Province in southeast China inspired by local and contextual conditions.
