Today MVRDV and the Port of Rotterdam announced their plans for the Harbour Experience Centre, a visitor centre and exhibition space located at the harbour’s western-most point. Combining a permanent exhibition with event spaces and a restaurant and café, the building will educate people young and old about how the harbour works, the role the harbour plays in their lives, and how the harbour is changing to address future challenges.

The Harbour Experience Centre is the successor to FutureLand, a temporary information centre that opened in 2009, during the construction of the second artificial extension of the Port of Rotterdam known as the Maasvlakte 2. The success of FutureLand prompted the creation of a more complete information centre with a larger, permanent exhibition to teach people about Europe’s largest port.

The Harbour Experience Centre thus brings the visitor centre to a more prominent location on the beach. This location, in combination with the design by MVRDV that features a stack of twisting boxes, turns the building into a beacon that is visible from all around. Inside, the building’s permanent exhibition is designed by Amsterdam-based designers Kossmandejong.

The design of the Harbour Experience Centre will be revealed in more detail during a press event at the Maasvlakte on June 16th.