Chinese architect’s tornado-inspired staircase to take the Netherlands’ migration museum by storm
- Ma Yansong’s MAD Architects is designing a theatrical staircase for the first Dutch migration museum in Rotterdam, from where millions sailed for the New World
- The museum is in a neighbourhood that housed one of Europe’s oldest Chinatowns
Why has a Chinese architect been chosen to put a spiralling viewpoint in the Netherlands’ first migration museum? Because the Fenix – a historic, harbourside warehouse that will house the museum – stands in what was one of Europe’s oldest Chinatowns.
Beijing-based Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, will add a “theatrical staircase” to Rotterdam’s Landverhuizersmuseum, eddying through the centre of the building to a rooftop observation deck.
Today, the old storehouse sits among the dockland cafes and bars of the Katendrecht, a hip, post-industrial area on the southern banks of Rotterdam’s harbour. Rehabilitation of the once desolate waterfront area – ravaged by fire and war – began in 2007, and will continue with the Fenix’s restoration.
Having taken the West by storm with innovative buildings such as Toronto’s gyrating Absolute Towers (nicknamed the Marilyn Monroe for their hourglass curves), and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, in Los Angeles, currently under construction, for film director George Lucas, MAD Architects will be undertaking its first public cultural project in Europe.
“The staircase draws on the formation of a tornado, and has several landings that provide access to the different gallery spaces. It gives visitors the opportunity to meander and explore the museum from different perspectives, and concludes above the rooftop as a panoramic lookout point offering views of the riverside, and city beyond,” says Ma, of the staircase that will be built over the next three years.
