To kick day 8 off, my trio grabbed a light breakfast while everyone was still asleep and took a tram to the Nieuwe Instituut, an architecture museum located in Rotterdam. I’ll admit that I initially had no idea what to expect when walking in, but I can now confidently say that the Nieuwe Instituut has been my favorite part of the Netherlands trip so far. The first exhibit focused on the designs of Chinese architect Ma Yansong and his studio MAD. Instead of sticking with traditional angular and modern buildings, MAD favors flowing, organic shapes. Their goal is to preserve as much of the environment as possible and confine themselves to land that has already been developed to prevent urban sprawl, meaning that the only direction left for them to build is up! 

Many of their designs make excellent use of vertical space while also including areas for greenery within the buildings. Their ambitious utopia Superstar made my jaw drop – when walking into the museum, I saw the jagged scale model hanging from the ceiling. However, when I saw the concept video and the details of the inner structure and its massive size, my mind was blown. On top of the scale, it’s intended to be a fully closed, self-sustainable mobile system. The Superstar is purely theoretical, but it’s a fascinating concept.

The other areas of the museum were equally interesting, including an AI-powered talking coffee machine, a ridiculous cloud auction, and a “Future Makers” area designed for kids, by kids. Unfortunately we were under a time crunch, so we were unable to see the museum in its entirety, but I would highly recommend visiting the Nieuwe Instituut if you ever get the chance. After grabbing a quick snack from the museum cafe, we returned to the hotel, then hopped on our 50 minute bus ride to the Watersnoodmuseum.

The Watersnoodmuseum (Flood Museum) is located inside a concrete slab that puts Benedum Hall to shame. Halfway through the museum I realized that the reason for the building’s drab appearance is that it’s made of caissons. In fact, it’s made of the very same caissons used to block the dyke that was breached in the flood of 1953. Within the museum, I learned about the challenges that the Netherlands have faced due to one third of the country being below sea level. While the Netherlands had some protections against flooding, they were no match for the aggressive storm surges in February of 1953. 1,836 people died in the storm, and the destruction from the flood was widespread. It was a horrific event, and not something that anyone wants to be repeated. Over time, the Netherlands have shored up their defenses against flooding from the sea, rain, and rivers using a combination of dykes, dams, polders, surge barriers, and pumping stations.

However, with global temperatures and sea levels rising, storms are becoming more frequent and temperamental, and the Netherlands are at a higher risk of flooding again. Due to this, hydraulics engineers have to start working towards developing solutions that are efficient and sustainable, preserving both people and wildlife at the same time.

Notes on Sustainability

While walking around and taking the bus today, I saw a very interestingly shaped building which I noticed had a green rooftop with trees, which was a relatively novel sight for me. Additionally, while exploring the Nieuwe Instituut, I learned that MAD studio’s FENIX Museum/Food Factory building also has an almost entirely green roof, which I plan to see while we’re still in Rotterdam. In urban areas, green roofs are especially important for providing shade and reducing the temperature of the roofs and surrounding air. We also saw a wind farm in a very open coastal area on our way to the Watersnoodmuseum. Since we were surrounded by water, it’s presumably a very windy area and therefore a good place to have a lot of wind turbines nearby each other.

Tot ziens!