MAD Architects’ in collaboration with Bureau Polderman opened FENIX Museum of Migration in Rotterdam which transformed a former shipping warehouse into a living vessel of memory, movement, mirgration and multicultural identity. The adaptive reuse project reclaims 16,000 m² of industrial heritage on the Katendrecht peninsula, once a departure point for millions of migrants.
At the museum’s centre, a dramatic double-helix steel staircase—nicknamed the “Tornado”—rises 24 metres through the building’s core. This sculptural intervention, visible from street level, is both symbol and infrastructure: a visceral metaphor for the winding, uncertain paths of migration, and a literal route to a rooftop viewing deck over the Maass River. The staircase embodies themes of transition, ascent, and return.
The museum’s programming complements this narrative arc. Through exhibitions like All Directions, The Family of Migrants, and The Suitcase Labyrinth, visitors engage with personal and collective migration stories through visual art, photography, and participatory installation. On the ground floor, a civic square—FENIX Plein—anchors the space as a public platform for food, dialogue, and co-creation.
In a city where nearly half the population has migratory roots, FENIX reframes migration as cultural vitality using architecture and design to promote social equity.
