Project Name: Portlantis Visitor and Exhibition Center

Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Design Team: MVRDV

Total Floor Area: 3533 m²

Completion: 2025

Photography: Ossip van Duivenbode

Feature:

Project - The Portlantis Visitor and Exhibition Center, designed by MVRDV and located at the westernmost point of the Port of Rotterdam, opened to the public on March 22nd, 2025. This "museum with no collection" was created to showcase the intimate relationship between Rotterdam and its port. The building takes the form of a stack of five rotated exhibition spaces, each strategically oriented to frame specific views of the surroundings through carefully positioned "windows to the world" that offer panoramic vistas of the North Sea, coastline, and port facilities.

At the heart of the building is a 22-meter-tall atrium featuring suspended yellow sculptures and a kinetic installation that symbolizes the perpetual motion of port activities. The exhibition areas, designed by Kossmanndejong, unfold across the floors – beginning with Rotterdam's current port operations on the first level, exploring its historical significance on the second, focusing on future developments and global role on the third, and addressing environmental challenges and sustainable solutions on the fourth. Each level's exhibition content directly corresponds to the view framed by its window.

The building's exterior is characterized by bright red staircases that twist their way up the structure, providing free public access to viewing platforms on each level and the rooftop. This design element transforms Portlantis into not just an exhibition center but also a public viewing tower, creating a beacon-like presence in the landscape.

Sustainability anchors the project through demountable structures, circular economy principles, and energy-positive operations, generating 30 percent more energy than it consumes. Constructed from resilient, port-sourced materials designed to withstand maritime conditions, the building embodies both the industrial spirit of Rotterdam and the port's ambitious transition toward a sustainable future.

Design Team - MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. Now, the three founding partners lead a dynamic and optimistic team of over 300 alongside partners Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, Jan Knikker, and Bertrand Schippan. Based in Rotterdam, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, and New York, the firm has a global scope, providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues in all regions of the world.

MVRDV employs a highly collaborative, research-based design method that involves clients, stakeholders, and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The firm has an in-house Climate Team, which consults with design teams across the entire company to ensure the sustainability and resilience of their work. As a group of specialists, MVRDV NEXT develops and implements computational workflows and new technologies to rationalize designs, speed up processes, and make projects more efficient and adaptable in the face of change.

The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. The products of the firm's unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations, and exhibitions. The firm has a reputation for designing innovative, unexpected, and joyful mixed-use buildings such as the Markthal, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam, Radio Hotel and Tower, a brightly colored leisure and office tower complex in New York City, and Valley, three dramatic, nature-inspired, plant-covered towers in Amsterdam.