Future Cities Forum Summer Awards 2025

Image: courtesy of the Fenix Museum of Migration

Future Cities Forum's Summer Awards 2025 will be held in London on the 4th July with a panel of all-female judges.

We are releasing the entries for the international cultural award section. These are the Fenix Museum of Migration, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Naoshima New Museum of Art, Naoshima, Japan and TeamLab Phenomena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Fenix (opened May 2025) describes the new museum:

'Fenix is housed in a historic harbour warehouse dating back to 1923. Once the world’s largest transhipment warehouse, it was designed by architect Cornelis van Goor and built for the Holland-America Line. Back then, it was known as the San Francisco Warehouse, stretching 360 metres along the quay. Over the years, the warehouse has been restored and transformed into a museum. At its heart, architect Ma Yansong added the Tornado: a double-helix staircase that spirals skyward to a viewing platform above the roof. During World War II, German troops destroyed parts of the quays, severely damaging the warehouse. In 1948, a fire devastated part of the building. But like the mythical phoenix, the warehouse rose from the ashes. It was rebuilt as two separate structures, later named Fenixloods I and Fenixloods II.

'From Fenix, you look out over the quays where millions of people once embarked on journeys across the ocean. Just as many arrived in Katendrecht and Rotterdam, seeking a new home. This history inspired Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, who became the first Chinese architect to design a museum in Europe.

'He created a futuristic addition to the century-old warehouse: the Tornado, both a sculpture and a viewing platform. Two staircases spiral upwards in a self-chosen route, leading visitors to a panoramic deck above the roof. With its fluid, swirling form, the Tornado appears to be in motion—an echo of the movement and stories of the quays below, where the lives of millions took a new turn. The Tornado is both a work of art and a viewing platform. Standing at the heart of the museum, it connects the ground floor, the first floor, and the rooftop viewpoint. Beyond its practical function, the staircases symbolise the central theme of Fenix: migration. At the top, you are greeted with a sweeping view of the historic quays that have long been a place of departures and arrivals. This is where millions of people set off in search of a new life. Ships carrying emigrants departed from these very shores to the United States and Canada. At the same time, just as many people arrived in Rotterdam, shaping the city into what it is today. While the Tornado’s design feels futuristic, its foundation is firmly rooted in the century-old warehouse and the deep history of the surrounding area. 

'Over the years, the warehouse has served many functions and undergone various renovations. Elements from different periods were added to fit the evolving needs of the space. Following the advice of Bureau Polderman, the historic warehouse has been carefully restored. Window frames and façades were returned to their original green, while the calm rhythm of the original design—characterised by its concrete columns and distinctive windows—was reinstated.'

Image: Courtesy of Benessa Art Site Naoshima

The Naoshima New Museum of Art is designed by Tadao Ando (opened May 2025) and it will be his tenth architectural work among the art facilities of Benesse Art Site Naoshima. In a three-storied structure that houses two basement floors and a ground floor, the museum will exhibit and build a collection of major works and commissioned works of artists from the Asian region including Japan.

The Benessa Art Site Naoshima says:

'The museum will present special exhibitions and conduct various public programs such as talks and workshops with an aim to communicate diverse perspectives, expressions, and multilayered messages about contemporary society. The museum is also expected to function as a place where people visit time after time and encourage a multitude of diverse exchanges and connections with people from both on and off the island.

'As the new museum interconnects with the existing art facilities on the island, this constellation of venues will offer more integrated art encounters, deeply resonant with the surrounding nature and communities. As the first museum to bear the name of Naoshima, it aims to further explore what it means to be a museum profoundly connected to the spirit of the local community, creating an even greater harmony between art, architecture, nature, and daily life on the island.

'The architecture of the Naoshima New Museum of Art is designed by Tadao Ando, who has worked on museum projects for Naoshima for over three decades beginning with Benesse House Museum, which opened in 1992. Featuring a large roof whose slope resonates with the hilltop location, the new three-story museum has two floors underground and one on ground level. A staircase room, where natural light enters from a skylight, extends downward, straight from the ground level to the underground floors. Located on both sides of the staircase are four galleries. There is a café on the northern part of the ground floor, which offers a scenic view of the island of Teshima and fishing boats coming and going, a characteristic

'The exterior of the museum will feature black plaster reminiscent of burned cedar walls, and a stacked pebble fence to blend with the surrounding landscape of the Honmura area. The architecture and the approach leading up to the entrance are designed to connect the experience of visitors with Naoshima's history and people's lives.'

Image: courtesy of Multivu.com

teamLab Phenomena, Abi Dhabi, UAE (opened April 2025) designed by the Abu Dhabi–based firm MZ Architects, describes itself as a 'mind blowing expedition into ourselves and our environment...it explores how environmental phenomena interact with their surroundings, creating artworks that change our perception of the world.'

It continues:

'teamLab is an international art collective whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology and the natural world. Through art, the interdisciplinary group of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects, aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world and new forms of perception.'

Sprawling over 17,000 sqm, teamLab Phenomena lies on the waterfront of Saadiyat Cultural District, which is home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the soon to be opened Guggenheim and Natural History Museum.

teamLab says:

'The pristine white exterior curves and dips to form organic shapes that flow into the surroundings. The exteriors and interiors blend into each other, as though connected by one skin. Within the structure are different immense spaces that flow into each other seamlessly.'

UAE Stories comments:

'teamLab is not your typical art exhibition. It’s not even a museum in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s a fully interactive world created by the internationally acclaimed Japanese art collective, teamLab. These artists and engineers specialize in combining light, sound, and technology in ways that completely change how people experience art.

'Walking into teamLab Phenomena feels like entering another dimension. You leave the outside world behind and step into dark, dreamy spaces filled with glowing shapes, moving lights, and gentle sounds. The walls pulse with color. The floor seems to shift beneath your feet. You reach out to touch a glowing orb, and it changes color. You walk past a digital waterfall, and it flows around you.

'One of the most exciting things about this place is how it responds to people. The more you explore, the more it changes. Walk in one direction, and the light might chase after you. Stay still, and the artwork might grow quieter, as if waiting for you to make the next move.

'It’s an experience that makes you stop, slow down, and look around—not just with your eyes, but with your whole body.'