The Fenix Museum of Migration by MAD Architects has established itself as an iconic civic landmark along Rotterdam's industrial waterfront after being open for several months. Rising prominently above the historic port district, the museum occupies a carefully restored warehouse that was once connected to the flow of migrants who departed from Rotterdam for destinations across the globe. Newly captured images taken months after its May 2025 opening reveal that the project functions not merely as a renovation, but as an active and lived-in landmark shaped by visitors' reflections and spiraling movement.
"Everything is in motion – people, time, light, the sea," explains Ma Yansong, the architect behind the design. "This building invites us to rethink moments of arrival and departure, and to reflect on the reasons we set out in the first place." This sense of continuity between past and present creates a connection between the sculptural building and its cultural and urban context. Before the museum opened to the public, the architects documented their entire design process through a film titled "Ma Yansong: Journey to Design the Fenix Tornado."
At the heart of the Fenix Museum of Migration, MAD's tornado-shaped staircase has emerged as the defining architectural element. Two independent spirals rise through the space, crossing and separating before joining at platforms that offer sweeping views over the coastal Dutch city. The MAD team compares their project to similar occupiable monuments such as Heatherwick Studio's now-iconic Vessel or the Little Island along New York's Hudson River, noting that these projects operate at a similar scale and share a strong commitment to experiential design.
However, the tornado staircase takes a distinctly different approach from its counterparts. While Vessel is often described as an Escher-like stair maze built for spectacle, and Little Island functions as a floating garden for urban escape, the tornado in Fenix focuses on convergence rather than retreat or display. Ma Yansong describes the museum's configuration as "random yet precise," a system designed for fluid movement that creates chance encounters between visitors.
The design creates a choreography of visitor movements, as the layout organizes spontaneous interactions and encourages both individual reflection and collective experience as people ascend the spiraling structure. The adaptive reuse approach preserves the warehouse's industrial shell, maintaining a physical memory of the surrounding neighborhood. While Bureau Polderman handled the restoration of the original warehouse structure, MAD introduced strategic interventions to transform its historic atmosphere.
The opening of the central roof floods the interior with natural daylight, animating both the preserved concrete structure and the new stainless-steel spiral. "The shaping and shifting of global politics, geography, culture, and art are largely rooted in these migrations," Ma explains. "We hope this museum not only commemorates the past or tells stories of hardship, but more importantly, reveals hope and courage – offering inspiration for people today and in the future to look ahead."
Structurally, the spiraling staircase represents a remarkable feat of engineering innovation. Measuring 550 meters in length and rising thirty meters high, the structure cantilevers outward up to seventeen meters at certain points. This ambitious design was achieved through a sophisticated spatial truss system developed in collaboration with roller coaster specialists. The staircase's reflective cladding, precisely shaped using CNC technology, captures the shifting skies, waterfront activity, and movement of passersby throughout the day.
The experience of climbing the stairs constantly evolves and never remains fixed. Perspectives shift with each step visitors take, chance encounters occur at the various landings, and the journey culminates at the rooftop platform where the city and river unfold as a broad horizon. The architects describe the structure as functioning as both a journey and a gathering place, where physical movement transforms into architectural experience.
Inside the museum, the collection includes both historical artifacts and contemporary commissioned works, presented in an open floor plan that encourages visitors to move fluidly between representations of past and present. The contrast between the restored warehouse structure and the new intervention creates a powerful dialogue between different eras of the building's life.
Wim Pijbes, President of the Droom en Daad Foundation, emphasizes the universal nature of the migration experience that the museum seeks to capture. "At some point in life, people make the decision – whether due to war, poverty, faith, or other reasons – to pack everything they own into one or two suitcases and start over on the other side of the world," he explains. "What we must do is understand those emotions and give them form." The museum's reflective stainless steel surfaces mirror light and movement throughout the day, creating an ever-changing visual experience that embodies this theme of constant motion and transformation.
