Katendrecht in Rotterdam is enjoying a cultural resurgence.

On Rotterdam’s harbour a steel helix twists skyward. Launching out of the roof of a brick warehouse, its shimmering curves catch the light to evoke creation, uncertainty and movement.

This is Fenix, a museum on the theme of migration. Opened in May, it is the first cultural work in Europe by Beijing-based MAD Architects. And the stair that twists through the middle of the building – dubbed “the Tornado” – provides a metaphor for migration’s disorientation and possibility: lifting you upward, spinning you in unexpected directions and, if fortune favours you, setting you down somewhere with a clear view. From the top, I looked out to the north across the Maas River to the skyscrapers of central Rotterdam.

Those towers are Rotterd

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