LOLA

What does the Port of Rotterdam look like in 2200? Nobody can tell for sure, but one thing is certain: it will be fundamentally different from today, since the port needs to adapt to the changes in climate, energy, technology and society. The Port of Rotterdam is looking for ways to continue it’s ‘license to operate’, while also dealing with the challenges of current and upcoming transitions. Five meters projected sea-level rise, soil subsidence, fresh water shortage and loss of biodiversity: can the port use climate change as a driver to become a better port over the next 200 years?

Maritime Museum Rotterdam invited LOLA Landscape Architects to study the possible future of the Port of Rotterdam as part of the new Destination Port City Exhibition. Within this exhibition, each year, the Horizon Station functions as a stage for a scientist, architect or futurologist. At this stage, they give an answer to an all-encompassing question: what will the future of the Port of Rotterdam look like? In LOLA’s future for the Europoort envisions harbour-islands in a natural estuary. The development strategy for this future is incremental. With each increment the harbour islands are raised to adapt to sea level rise or lowered to make space for the estuarine ecology.

LOLA’s vision is on display the whole of 2023 in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, including a beautiful 3 x 2 meter model made by Made by Mistake. The Maritime is located in the bustling Maritime District of Rotterdam, near the Erasmus Bridge, the Market Hall and Hotel New York. The museum is easily accessible.