Work Maritime Museum Rotterdam

Research

Type: Maritime Museum design exploration
Client: Municipality of Rotterdam, Maritime Museum Rotterdam
Location: Rotterdam
Year: 2021 
Link: Ontwerpstudie MMR (PDF)

The Municipality of Rotterdam, together with the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam, commissioned a design study to explore the potentials of the current location of the MMR and to re-evaluate the current typology of the museum.

In the heart of the city of Rotterdam, where the Coolsingel and the Westblaak meet, lies the Maritime Museum Rotterdam (MMR). Its presence in Rotterdam is prominent: both in terms of location as well as in the cultural and educational fields. The diversity of the museum program and the potential to attract diverse target groups make the museum unique. The museum also has one of the largest and unique collections of all maritime museums in the world.

The current museum, designed by Wim Quist, is, also in view of the historical context, of plausible cultural value. At the same time, it is known that the current building has certain structural, organizational and identity-related limitations. The current building, which opened in 1986, no longer fits in with the surroundings and does not show the full potential of the place, but even detracts from its qualities. The building is disconnected from the immediate surroundings and hinders connections and views to the historic harbor.

The geographical home of the museum, the Leuvehaven, is one of the last parts of the old Rotterdam harbor that has managed to keep its original form preserved. The historical stratification of the port city of Rotterdam is clearly visible here. The outdoor program of the Maritime Museum extends over the Leuvehaven; together they make an important contribution to Rotterdam's identity as a port city.

The existing building has a closed structure arranged around an open space, which means that the public program is not connected with the city. In addition, good exhibition and event spaces are lacking in the building. Even after renovation, the building will not be able to make optimal use of all the possibilities that the current location offers and respond to the richness that the museum contains.

Based on the foregoing premise, this research focuses on the question of what kind of design does embrace the existing qualities of the location and program. It explores how MMR can become a must-see place in Rotterdam, a museum as a workshop that invites a wide audience.

The architecture of the building is inspired by the offshore rigs, an evolving version of the harbor cranes. The forerunner of the crane - the pulley, is a simple mechanism for changing the direction of an applied force. The building becomes a horizontal pulley system of social activities, interconnected by large vertical lifting platforms and voids. The building is embedded in the tissue of the city. It has extreme spaces contrasting from enclosed to completely open.

“Platform MMR” goes back to the basics of what the Maritime Museum Rotterdam wants to be: a place for all Rotterdammers: accessible, visible, a public space in the heart of the city. In doing so, the choice was made for completely new construction with a more urban typology, in keeping with the current urban context. New design also emphasizes the need for the museum to be more 'open' to the city and to make the usual back-of-house functions part of a new type of Maritime Museum.

The current building of the Maritime Museum Rotterdam (MMR) is located in one of the most important places in the city, where two distinguished boulevards meet in the historic Leuvehaven overlooking the Erasmus Bridge.

The MMR is a unique museum because of the wide range of indoor and outdoor events and workshops. The building is located in the Netherlands' oldest and largest open-air port museum, where historic ships and cranes let you experience how the world port of Rotterdam originated at exactly this location. Therefore, in contrast to the existing building, a closed box with a compact program, the new design for MMR aims to become a stage for the public celebration of Rotterdam. The building as a multiverse, which stimulates the process of self-driven collective experimentation and where the community can grow and develop around communal discussions.

Dissecting the existing program, it was rearranged around a series of elevated public squares opening up workshops, educational classes, depot and temporary exhibitions to the city.

Each platform has its own character belonging to its programmatic layer. New volume responds to the emerging Rotterdam city, being located in one of the future high-rise areas of Rotterdam.

The building embraces the historic harbor and creates a visual connection with the Erasmus Bridge. The building is arranged in such a way that it opens up important visual axes and embraces important urban planning directions, being embedded in the tissue of the city.
On the ground level, the building returns public space to the city in the form of an industrial park with social activators. A square bridge connects the museum with the other side of the Leuvehaven and at the same time offers extra space for exhibitions and various city activities, such as swimming and water purification. It descends towards the water, creating a direct connection with the harbor.

The architecture of the building is inspired by the offshore rigs, the coexistence of multiple activities and experiences, from the underwater to the sublime view over the sea. The building has extreme spaces contrasting from enclosed to completely open, forming a juxtaposition of closed exhibition spaces interwoven with more public functions, interconnected by large vertical lifting platforms and voids.

Project

Biography

The Prix de Rome is the oldest and most prestigious Dutch award for visual artists and architects below the age of 35.

Lesia's work has been published in ArchDaily, E-Flux, STIRworld, NRC, Het Financieele Dagblad Persoonlijk, Metropolis, Mister Motley, Blauwe Kamer, AD, and more.

Honors & Awards:

2024 - Residency at The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) and Studio of Ibrahim Mahama (Red Clay), Ghana

2024 - Residency on Governors Island, New York

2023 - IABR Agent of Change

2023 - Financieele Dagblad Top 50 Talent 2023

2022 - Winner Prix de Rome, the Netherlands

2020 - Talent Grant, Creative Industries, Netherlands

2020 - Young Talent Architecture Award, nomination (by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the EU Commission)

2019 - Winner Archiprix Nederland

2019 - Winner Archiprix International

2019 - Winner Tamayouz International Award

2014 - AHK Talent Grant

Selected Exhibitions:

2025 - Solo exhibition at MAGAZIN, Vienna, Austria (upcoming)

2025 - Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Portugal

2024 - Work presentation at RedClay (Studio of Ibrahim Mahama), Ghana

2024 - Mobile installation, exhibition, Governors Island - Lower Manhattan, New York

2024 - OMI, "Rotterdam Culture City", alongside significant works by OMA and West 8.

2024 - International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR)

2022 - Prix de Rome, NI, Rotterdam

2022 - Architecture Triennale, Lisbon

2022 - New European Bauhaus, Brussels

2021 - Dutch Design Week

2021 - Biennale, Venice

2020 - Dutch Design Week

2019 - Biennale, Santiago

2019 - Archiprix International

2019 - Archiprix Netherlands

Portrait for Prix de Rome 2022

Lesia Topolnyk is an architect who pushes the boundaries of her field, exploring architecture’s role beyond the act of building. Her goal is to foster a holistic perspective and stimulate systemic transformation. Rather than simply creating structures, she is deeply invested in the potential of architecture within our constructed reality—whether physical, social, or political. "It's about ideas that take shape during the research and design process, generating new typologies," she explains. For her, architecture is not a reactive discipline but a tool for reshaping the world by questioning its existing frameworks. "Architects are often seen as designers of spaces, but we also design relationships. Especially in these turbulent political times, it is crucial to examine how the world itself is designed to understand the larger forces at play. Sometimes, I reflect on major global issues; at other times, I focus on the space inside someone's mind.”

Lesia founded Studio Space Station to tackle urgent societal and planetary challenges beyond the traditional scope of architecture, bridging global and local perspectives. She uses spatial tools to shape ideas, uncover hidden narratives, and forge new relationships—whether through installations, interventions, architecture, or film. Rooted in deep research, each project uniquely responds to its context, provoking thought, stirring emotion, and sparking dialogue. Her approach to architecture, art, and design is fundamentally collaborative, drawing on diverse perspectives and expertise. She actively works across disciplines, believing that "you can learn from others, and they bring valuable insights and viewpoints.”

Lesia effortlessly navigates between different scales and realities, having studied art and holding master’s degrees in Architecture (NL), Urban Planning (PL), and Environmental Design (UA). She also has a decade of experience working at internationally renowned architecture practices. Her work has received numerous Dutch and international awards and has been exhibited and published worldwide. She also teaches and lectures in the Netherlands and abroad.

For her final project at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam, Topolnyk, who grew up in Ukraine, addressed the situation in Crimea, proposing a building that serves as a counterpart to the United Nations Headquarters—UnUnited Nations Headquarters—exploring architecture’s role in absorbing conflict within a divided society. For this work, Lesia received both the Archiprix Netherlands and Archiprix International awards.

Her Prix de Rome-winning project, No Innocent Landscape, expands on this vision, exploring how architecture can operate in politically contested territories, using spatial interventions to navigate instability and create new narratives. Through speculative research and design, she examines architecture’s role in decision-making and power structures, revealing the invisible forces that shape our built environment.

Lesia's current research, extending to sites in the Netherlands, Africa, and New York, focuses on the crises shaping our world, with a particular interest in how governance has historically been designed and how architecture has supported, symbolised, and shaped these systems. "It’s about how we can design change and how we can govern the world better together," she concludes. For her, architecture is not just about constructing spaces—it is about constructing possibilities.

Text: Vincent van Velsen

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