FENIX Museum of Migration Construction Update

PA Editorial TeamDecember 19, 20242 Mins read286

The Fenix Museum of Migration, designed by MAD Architects, is scheduled to open in 2025 at Rotterdam City Harbor. MAD Architects released the FENIX Museum of Migration project drawings and renders in 2020, and now, ongoing construction lets us see the progress in detail.

About Warehouse

The original warehouse was built in 1923, a hundred and one years ago. At that time, the warehouse was one of the most prominent examples of its kind and also had a key factor between Netherlands and USA storage and transshipment lines.

The Fenix Warehouse was one of the largest warehouses in the world, and the museum was the first public cultural building in Europe to be commissioned by a Chinese architectural agency.

About Museum

The Fenix Museum of Migration’s design approach allows visitors to explore migration subjects through architecture, art, and design productions.

Fenix is the first museum in the world that tells stories of migration through art. Stories of love and goodbyes, coming home and feeling at home, navigating identity or seeking happiness. In a historical warehouse, at the place of departure and arrival. *

The museum was designed to coexist with the old warehouse building. Its iconic metal structure, “Tornado,” combines the new and old buildings, giving the museum a unique approach.

Fenix will be a place to wonder and to explore about the past, the present, and the future. When we look at the path we’ve been through in the past, we know the future won’t be linear.”
– Ma Yansong, MAD Architects

Iconic Staircase

Tornado represents the journey of migration. Both the design decisions and museum contents have strong references from migrants worldwide.

Key elements donated by migrants have been interpreted artistically and included in the building. Some of them are photographs that are considered historical documents and are in the museum’s content.

Connection With Site

The museum’s unique interaction with the historical building in the modern urban fabric makes it an important landmark. By Synthesizing the past and the future in a critical location by the harbor, the museum is creating an original way to interact with the historical building in the modern urban fabric.

The museum’s contents include specially designed works of art created by more than 80 artists from all over the world, with modern interpretations.

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