In the constantly changing city of Rotterdam the Laurens Church is one of the few buildings that has a visible reference to the past. After the bombings in the Second World War the centre of Rotterdam had completely disappeared, except for the ruins of the Laurens Church. In the 1950’s the church was completely rebuild, but many of the historical and narrative layers disappeared. Our task was to design a permanent exhibition that manifests the stories of the Laurens Church, but at the same time leaves room for the other activities and respects the church as a monument.

Church filled with stories: a new layer of meaning

The design of the exhibition in the Laurens church is based on stories that are embedded within the building. Five centuries of history are the source: from the city’s foundation, through the centuries up to the future. It is not a traditional exhibition, as there is no collection to display. Stories and occasions are depicted and presented instead. It has turned into a contemporary multimedia show that does justice to the building and that illuminates and offers a deeper understanding to both the Rotterdam community and the city’s tourists.

Each chapel its own theme
The church’s chapels host distinct themes that are all related to the Laurens church and the city of Rotterdam. Each chapel has its own theme and form and content are always subject-specific, thus each chapel is different. The result is an exhibition that lets the walls speak about the past and the present, about life and death, about the city’s bombing and its reconstruction as well as its silence.
‘The layout has added a new layer to the church’s modest reconstruction architecture. It has not become an exhibition in the space, rather the space has become the exhibition’

Food for thought
The exhibition design raises questions and invites to in-depth exploration. A specially developed audio book that will be handed out to every visitor at the entrance of the exhibition, explains and gives detailed information through various people’s voices. The chapels stimulate people to ask questions, while the audio book gives inspiring answers through suggestions and stories.

In the ‘Urbanian Pavilion’ six families from six different cities from all six continents are followed and compared in their search for happiness. The pavilion highlights the most important themes that influence the quality of life in a city: a healthy and safe environment, ample and satisfying work, good education possibilities and a rich social network. The exhibition also shows why the city, with its diversity and possibilities, is so attractive for so many people.

During a 45-minute ‘urban walk’ through a theatrically designed, immense and monumental metropolis visitors pass through five different sub-pavilions. The five pavilions HOME, WORK, CONNECTED, LEARN and HEALTH, all have specific multimedia design and each present an important aspect of life in a large city. Videos of the 6 families can be seen on synchronized multiscreen projections. Statistical facts and personal stories each complement each other. By combining real family (micro-) stories with macro-statistics illustrating the important quality of life themes it is easier for visitors to become aware of the theme of urbanization at the macro level. The choices you make as an individual fit into a global phenomenon of urbanization. By telling several stories simultaneously we create a situation in which visitors can draw comparisons and can have free associations for themselves.

The themed subpavilions each differ in scale and atmosphere through the use of synchronized multi-screen projections, light, sound and odor. To stimulate the visitor’s imagination the city is not represented literally, but composed of ‘as found’ objects. Plastic crates form the large skyscrapers of the ‘residential area’; thousands of milk cartons together form the organized suburbs. Empty paint cans become the impressive wall of a huge factory and stacks of office furniture turn into a huge concrete office building. Cardboard boxes suggest a skyline. During the walk through the pavilion the visitor can experience this ‘city’ in many different ways. Each turn offers new vistas and perspectives. Changes of light and sound show the city during the day, evening and at night.

A lot of senses are addressed through the balanced mix of space, collections, images, text, light, photography, film, sound, new media and interaction. The visitor is immersed in an experience full of content and impact that provokes new ideas and so he becomes part of the narrative. In the pavilion visitors physically meet each other and can share life, comments and most important: collective experiences.

The ‘Urbanian Pavilion’ was one of the largest exhibitions at the World Expo 2010, with a total floor area of 15,000 m2 and a ceiling height of 22 meters. In total 6 million people visited the pavilion.

Kossmann.dejong is currently working on the new Maritime Museum in Helsingør (Denmark), the Historisches Museum Frankfurt (Germany), MicroZoo for Artis (the Netherlands) and the Maritime and Beachcombers Museum Texel (the Netherlands). The most recent projects the permanent exhibi¬tion ‘Laurens Church, a monument full of stories’ in the Laurenschurch in Rotterdam and a multimedia story about the UNESCO World Heritage Canal area in Amsterdam for Het Grachtenhuis.

The studio has won many national and international awards including a red dot design award 2011, three Dutch Design Awards, the IDEA Gold 2009 & IDEA Silver 2011 – the International Design Excellence Awards, a Gold and Bronze ID Award 2010, the I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review 2009, the FX Awards London 2009 and a D&AD Award 2008.

In 2010 Kossmann.dejong, in cooperation with Frame Publishers, has published ‘Engaging Spaces, a valuable and timeless sourcebook for everyone interested in the field of exhibition design.