Fenix Museum of Migration

The first completed cultural project of the Chinese practice in Europe, this art museum about migration opened in May 2025 in a historic port district. The city is home to residents from more than 170 countries, and after its centre was destroyed by bombing in 1940 it has been rebuilt again and again. In 2018 a foundation commissioned the design team to transform an old harbour warehouse into the museum.

The central roof was opened to bring in daylight, and a tornado-like spiral stair was inserted at the core, its path to a rooftop viewing platform imagined as a journey where people meet, reflect and choose at every crossing. The stair system is 550 metres long and 30 metres high, built as a spatial truss that cantilevers up to 17 metres, and clad in silver stainless steel shaped and polished by CNC.

The roof carries 6,750 square metres of green roofing that improves insulation and cuts energy use, and on the east side the ground floor opens as a civic square that is free to the public all year.