8 minute read
Lighting for Migration Stories The Lighting Design of the Fenix Museum
from Oct/Nov 2025
By Randy Reid
Photo credit: ERCO GmbH, www.erco.com, photography: Lukas Pali
When the Fenix Museum opened in 2025, Rotterdam gained more than another cultural landmark. The restored 1923 Holland-America Line warehouse on the Katendrecht peninsula was transformed into a migration museum, with Chinese architecture firm MAD Architects adding the striking mirrored “Tornado” staircase. Rising in a double-helix, the Tornado offers panoramic views over the city and the river—symbolically the same vantage point from which many migrants once departed. Inside, lighting designer Juliette Nielsen and her firm Beersnielsen Lichtontwerpers shaped a scheme that is as much about storytelling as illumination. Every fixture and every control strategy was chosen not only for technical performance but also to honor the deeply human stories of migration told through the museum’s collections.
The Fenix building stretches 172 meters and covers more than 16,000 square meters, of which 7,000 are exhibition space, retaining much of its raw industrial character. Instead of concealing this heritage, the design team worked to reveal it. Juliette explained that one of the most important directives from the client was to minimize the number of installations in the building. This applied to climate systems, sound, and especially lighting. The approach allowed visitors to experience the building itself while reducing visual clutter. Existing openings in the reinforced concrete beams were reused for cable trays carrying lighting, sound, Wi-Fi, security and emergency systems. In this way, the museum preserved its rugged architecture while seamlessly integrating modern utilities.
Because the curatorial program of the exhibition spaces was not fully defined during design, the lighting scheme had to be extraordinarily flexible. Beersnielsen’s solution was to create two layers of light. The first was diffuse ambient illumination using industrial linear fixtures mounted underneath the cable trays. These fittings, normally seen in warehouses, were adapted to include tunable white technology ranging from 3000K to 6000K. The tunability allowed them to follow the pace of natural daylight. At midday, the fixtures produced a crisp 5000K atmosphere that matched the skylight above, while in the evening they shifted toward 3000K, creating a warmer and more intimate environment.
The second layer was accent lighting provided by ERCO’s Parscan LED spotlights. Approximately one thousand of these fixtures were installed across the two floors, mounted to tracks fixed along one side of the cable trays. On the ground floor, where the ceilings are lower, 24-watt Parscans were used, while the upper floor with its soaring six-meter heights required 48-watt versions. The Parscans came in a variety of beam angles, from narrow six-degree spotlights to wider distributions, with additional lenses available for linear effects. This flexibility meant that objects as varied as a Rembrandt painting, a small passport behind glass, and an entire section of the Berlin Wall could all be lit effectively within one consistent design language.
At Juliette’s request, ERCO customized the Parscan luminaires for higher color fidelity, boosting them from the standard CRI 92 to CRI 97, while maintaining a 4000K color temperature. The museum’s private collection did not face the lux restrictions common in other institutions. Juliette described this as an opportunity, allowing her to “show objects more like in daylight” without concern for preservation limits. The result is a unified accent layer that harmonizes with the tunable diffuse system and with the abundant daylight pouring through skylights and expansive windows.
The industrial luminaires, chosen to echo the warehouse’s history, set the tone for the atmosphere. Their tunable white capability ensured that they worked seamlessly with daylight, creating a base layer that felt natural and responsive. Above that, the Parscans handled the precision work. Juliette emphasized that she and her team spent weeks on lifts during commissioning, fine-tuning each fixture’s angle and output. “Every millimeter you’re off, you’re going to see it,” she said, particularly when framing small objects from as far as ten meters away. For the passport display, framers were used to highlight the small without casting distracting shadows from the protective glass.
While the fixtures themselves are advanced, the controls were designed to be simple. The system is built on DALI infrastructure but presented to staff through a straightforward UT Control panel, programmed by the Dutch integrator Helvar. At the entrance, ticketing staff can select scenarios from a touch screen with icons for a sunny day, a rainy day, nighttime, cleaning and events. A single click changes the lighting for the entire museum. For more special events, advanced users with access codes can adjust individual zones, but for day-to-day use the simplicity is intentional. As Nielsen noted, the goal was to avoid sensors and constant measurements, opting instead for intuitive scenarios.
Beyond the exhibition spaces, several areas required unique solutions. The Tornado staircase posed one of the greatest challenges. With its tight curves and mirrored surfaces, integrating fixtures without disrupting the design was critical. Flexible 3D light lines from Linea Light, installed in a cove above the handrails, proved the solution. At 3000K, these continuous lines bend smoothly with the geometry, guiding visitors as they ascend while also creating a warm glow that plays against the reflective metal. The Tornado’s surfaces capture daylight by day and city lights by night, scattering shimmering reflections across floors and columns in an ever-changing display. Juliette described it as “never flat,” with the sun’s movement sparking dynamic patterns across the interior.
In the entrance, café, and shop areas, the designers paired diffuse light lines with iGuzzini’s Robin fixtures. These small, flexible spots are mounted above the linear elements, maintaining a clean graphic rhythm while providing accent illumination. The combination creates an inviting arrival sequence that feels both industrial and refined. Outside, subtle uplighting in warm 3000K tones brightens the loading platforms, ensuring safe pathways without overwhelming the historic character.
The museum’s mission is to tell migration stories, and the lighting reinforces that narrative at every turn. On the ground floor, a labyrinth of suitcases donated by families represents journeys across generations. Each suitcase is tagged with personal stories that visitors can access through audio guides, hearing the voices of refugees who left Europe during World War II or Ukrainians fleeing contemporary conflict. In these spaces, diffuse lighting is often dimmed or turned off, allowing accent lighting to sharpen the focus on photographs and artifacts. The contrast creates intensity, enhancing the emotional weight of the stories.
Another powerful exhibit on the first floor, is the Lampedusa boat, a fishing vessel once used by African migrants attempting to reach Italy. It is dramatically lit with Parscans, its modest scale stark against the cavernous room. Nearby, an art installation of an overstuffed car reflects the chaos and hope of displacement. The lighting renders both pieces with clarity and dignity, ensuring that visitors grasp their significance.
The project spanned seven years from concept through commissioning. Beersnielsen worked directly for the museum’s foundation, progressing in phases: concept, preliminary design, construction documents, commissioning, and fine-tuning. This approach allowed the design to evolve alongside the building’s transformation and the development of the collection. Juliette acknowledged that exhibits were often relocated even after commissioning, requiring additional adjustments and hours of work on site.
The lighting of the Fenix Museum is remarkable not for overwhelming spectacle but for its integration and sensitivity. Industrial warehouse lights were adapted for poetic effect. Museum-grade spotlights were customized for color fidelity. Controls were simplified to a push of a button, making sophisticated systems accessible to everyday staff. Most importantly, the lighting was designed to support the museum’s mission—to tell migration stories with clarity, dignity, and resonance. Whether illuminating a centuries-old painting, a fragile passport, a labyrinth of suitcases, or the symbolic Tornado staircase, the design ensures that every object carries the weight of its history.
In Rotterdam’s Fenix Museum, light itself becomes a migrant. It moves, adapts, blends with its surroundings, and always carries forward the essence of human stories.
