Prize(s) Winners in Visitor Experience & Museum Exhibition
Lighting Design/Product Company Beersnielsen Lichtontwerpers
Lead Designers Juliette Nielsen
Architecture Company MAD Architects, EGM
Interior Design Company Roland Buschmann
Client Droom en Daad
Photo Credits Beersnielsen, Fenix museum, Lukas Palik
Completion Date 10-05-2025
Project Location Rotterdam
Entry DescriptionFenix is a former warehouse of the Hollands Amerika Line (early 20th) for the transshipment of goods. The 172-m-long building houses an art museum dedicated to migration, with the Tornado at its heart, a double spiraling staircase with a viewing platform above the roof.
In 2019 we began working on the lighting design for the exterior and interior of Fenix. Without knowing the spatial design, only the program, we created a lighting design. Our goal was to preserve the building's original character and also incorporating flexibility to create suitable lighting for the final design. The 16,000m² building features 7,000m² of exhibition space, shop, café, lobby, Tornado, covered plaza and offices. To ensure sufficient flexibility, we use two layers of lighting: accent and diffuse lighting.
Industrial fixtures mounted on cable ducts add to the building's character. The tunable white diffuse lighting creates a base that complements the daylight sequence. The accent lighting consists of adjustable spotlights mounted on tracks. Both the beam and the intensity of the spotlights can be adjusted, creating a nice balanced lighting. The Tornado has many curves and is illuminated using integrated 3D bendable light lines in the handrail. The lighting design consisted of a flexible set of tools creating balance between the interior and the appearance of the building as seen from the outside.
Sustainability ApproachFlexibility was the starting point for the design of the lighting system. This means that if changes are needed in the future, the lighting can easily be adjusted without major interventions. Much of the lighting is mounted on tracks. Both the track and fixtures can easily be reused. At the end of the lifespan of the fixtures they can be fitted with new LED’s and power supplies. In addition to lighting calculations, on-site tests were conducted beforehand to determine the correct output of the fixtures and prevent excessive wattages. Various lighting scenarios were created for each part of the day to not only create the right atmosphere but also to ensure that fixtures are not left on unnecessarily.
