Just recently, on Saturday the 7th of February The Nederlands Fotomuseum celebrated its opening in the newly renovated Santos warehouse in Rotterdam. Situated in Katendrecht along the Rijnhaven, the museum occupies a former dockland area that is now rapidly transforming into a residential neighbourhood. Amidst the emerging high-rises along the waterfront, Santos stands as one of Rotterdam’s best preserved harbour buildings and as a reminder of the area’s past.
© WDJARCHITECTEN en RENNER HAINKE WIRTH ZIRN ARCHITEKTEN
Originally built between 1901 and 1902 by architects Kanters and Stok, the warehouse once stored coffee shipped from the Brazilian port city Santos, from which it takes its name. Today, as a national monument, it embodies Rotterdam’s history. The new function being the home of the Nederlands Fotomuseum adds another layer to this: not only does the building preserve collective memory, but so does the photographic collection that is stored within. The renovation and expansion were led by RHWZ Architekten from Hamburg and WDJArchitecten from Rotterdam. The building has multiple purposes: the ground floor serves as public domain with a library and a café, the museum and the volume added on top holds sixteen short-stay apartments and offices. pantheon// had the opportunity to tour the building with Sander Nelissen from WDJArchitecten to see the impressive transformation.
Central Atrium
Originally designed for storing coffee beans, Santos was built on a strict grid with open floor plans. Back in the days the coffee beans were hoisted via the exterior to the designated floors, which is why the original building did not have a central staircase. Today, the heart of the building is a new central atrium with staircases, giving the building a sense of direction as well as a source of daylight. Daylight would otherwise be scarce in the museum, since the facades on both sides are completely windowless, intended for neighbouring warehouses that were planned but never built. The scarcity of light creates a unique atmosphere within the museum, making visitors feel as if they are developing film in a darkroom. The daylight coming from the atrium serves as a natural guide, leading visitors upwards to explore permanent and temporary exhibitions, open depots and restoration ateliers. Although not immediately visible the stairs and floor openings are slightly offset. By contrasting the original strict grid, the atrium is highlighted as a new intervention.
Photo by Maria Dumitrache
Golden Crown
For passersby, the most striking feature is the “golden crown,” a contrasting, folded volume added to the top of the warehouse. This roof addition, wrapped in a perforated aluminium skin, was planned to preserve the monument’s presence amidst the area’s high-rise developments. Designed as an ode to the building’s former contours, its highest points align with the vertical central axes of the original roofline.
Photo by Maria Dumitrache
To support the addition, the team decided to reinforce the original cast-iron columns on the fifth floor rather than replace them. The different reinforcing methods were tested on the column that had been removed to create the atrium. This test column was eventually buried beneath the stage in the centre of the ground floor, as an ode to preserving the original materials within the building. Nelissen wonders whether someone will one day discover it.
Collection
As architecture students we are always busy with design, art and photography. The Nederlands Fotomuseum combines this with its collection of over 6.5 million objects. What makes the museum unique is that its collection is not hidden, but lies at the heart of the building on the second and third floor. Through glass walls, visitors can observe the restoration and cataloguing processes taking place in the open depots and ateliers. The museum also features climate-controlled vitrines, showcasing vulnerable items that usually remain behind closed doors, such as original negatives.
On the first floor a permanent exhibition, the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography, is displayed. On the fourth and fifth climate-controlled floor you can find the temporary exhibitions, currently featuring “Awakening in Blue” an ode to the cyanotype and “Rotterdam in Focus” showing the city throughout history. On the first and fourth floor the warehouse’s original atmosphere is most noticeable as here the open floorplans are still intact. The building's original character adds to the experience of viewing the vast photo collection.
© WDJARCHITECTEN en RENNER HAINKE WIRTH ZIRN ARCHITEKTEN
Outro
In its new form, the Nederlands Fotomuseum does more than just display photography. It stages a conversation between architecture and memory. As museums preserve images of the past, Santos also preserves the memory of Katendrecht’s port history in a rapidly changing city. Together, the building and its photographic collection form an archive of our collective memory. For anyone interested in photography or architecture, the new Nederlands Fotomuseum is definitely worth a visit. A place where past and present meet.
