With its floating shape, Arabic calligraphy windows, and the space age’s completion, the Dubai Museum of the Future will probably be the most complex building ever.
Dubai Museum of the Future In A Nut Shell
The magnificent shape of the museum was inspired by its mission of becoming an incubator for innovation and invention. Using 3D models, architects and engineers could collaborate and work through potential roadblocks during the design process. The exhibitions will take visitors to the distant future of 2071, and the game’s immersive atmosphere will encourage young learners to become future thinkers.
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The new Open Museum of the Future in Dubai, which has recently received a lot of attention, is one of the most challenging construction projects ever attempted. Still, the impression it gives is worth the effort. The museum’s unique shape and exhibition space take us back to 2071, so the future is much nearer than before!
Dubai seems to be a large construction site in the middle of the desert. Tall towers pop up almost overnight and constantly change the city’s shape. The future of museums in the world of architecture has long been talked about. This is due to the complex construction of the building itself and an awe-inspiring vision for the whole concept and the exhibition he planned to show to the audience.
Although there are taller and more spacious buildings, this incredible design, engineering, and construction feat will be considered one of the most complex projects ever made. “This complex building was never built, not with the structure in front of and above this shape,” says Derek Burke, BIM manager at construction firm WME.
Designed by Killa Design and opened on February 22, 2022, the Museum of the Future is shaped like a Taurus, a shiny silver ellipse with an open center. The building looks almost like an overview of the growing city, the largest in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Parametric Design Reflects Museum’s Mission
The art and metaphor advance the concepts in the museum’s design: the museum’s idea belongs to His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, and its purpose is to innovate.
There has to be an incubator. (Its motto: “See the future, create the future.”) Announced in 2015, this is no ordinary museum – as it is in the collection of specimens; it is a functional space filled with innovative facilities and design studios. It is a storehouse of ideas. I have not yet conceived. The design had to symbolize the Dubai Future Foundation’s mission, a wonderful blend of art, engineering, and architecture.
“The shape began with the design of a building that, at first glance, looked like the future. However, I understood that the client appreciated the sense of feng shui,” says Principal Sean Killa, who described the building’s revolutionary design. Imagined In feng shui, a round shape represents the fertile fields of the Earth and the infinite imagination of the sky above – hence the past, present, and future.
While the building will be ready for the next five or perhaps, ten years with future exhibitions of education, healthcare, smart cities, transportation, government services, and much more, the space in the middle of the building represents the unknown. From Fortress: “Those who strive for what we don’t know are the innovators and explorers of the future.”
Use of BIM to Visualize the Future
But design metaphors only lead to such a project so far. To ensure construction capability and LEED Platinum status, Killa worked with BuroHappold for engineering services and BAM International for construction, realism for 4D sequencing, and visualization in BIM (Building Information Modeling).
“From BuroHappold’s design models, we were able to verify weights and constraints, using models to generate data and to demonstrate the ability to build 4D layouts, which were also included as part of the tender. For, “says 28-month-old Burke. Program for the project.
Once the team went into the conceptual design, the whole process – up to construction drawings and beyond – was designed and documented in Autodesk Revit. By designing 3D models, the team can work through many potential conflicts in structure, facade, and MEP (mechanical, engineering, and plumbing) systems.
“We decided we would run 100% on the whole process with Revit,” says Killa. “There was no chamber for any two-dimensional drawing above that circle. The model was getting incredibly big, so we brought the whole team into our office to speed up communication. When designing a three-dimensional building in every way, and the only things that are horizontal, there are floors, and many decisions need to be made about where you need to live together.
In the past, putting such a future design in front of engineers or contractors would have been a stumbling block. Now, the team can use the software to create in-depth concepts, allowing colleagues to “walk” through the entire museum and check out every element. Every possible collision can be detected on a profoundly complex facade, in which 3D calligraphy windows have to be accurately aligned with the unusual shape of the building, as placing the word 2D calligraphy on the model gives the word 3D surface. It is distorted after being applied.
What Future Can We See Inside?
The opening ceremony of the museum took place on February 22, 2022. The lights of the ceremony could be seen all over Dubai, and the whole event was a fantastic light show with the Arab Philharmonic Orchestra in which the national anthem of the UAE was played.
Before the inauguration, the Dubai Media Office released a video on social media showing the top of the museum opening and welcoming something that looked like a spaceship. The clip went viral, causing a great deal of controversy.
Inside, the museum has seven floors, each dedicated to a different exhibition space. On the one hand, the destinations focus on current technological research. On the other, they are dedicated to ongoing research advances for future space travel, bioengineering, human well-being, and near-future technologies that have not yet been developed.
But let’s start from the beginning
Entering the lobby is an adventure in itself. It’s spacious and impressive, and above your head, you can see a flying object that looks a bit like a flying penguin. It is cute and keeps staring at you in the air as it hovers over your head, and you are wondering if soon there will be some mechanical animals in our house as pets.
First, the museum takes us on a journey through 2071 and imagines what the world might look like 50 years from now. After being introduced by an artificial intelligence guide called Aya, you board a spacecraft and find yourself on a space station called OSS Hope, 600 kilometers from Earth.
The museum envisions a future where the OSS Hope directs a collective energy project for humanity called the Civil Project. This project shows the moon covered with innumerable solar panels that carry energy to the nodes of the Earth. You can also see inventions such as asteroid water, nano-devices for repairing objects, and exo-skin.
In the next room, you can apply for particular positions at OSS Hope, such as Mars Colony Ambassador to Earth.
Going back to Earth, we enter, in my opinion, the most beautiful part of the show. It is a dark, mirrored space illuminated by columns of small glass cylinders containing the DNA of animals and plants that have become extinct. HEAL’s DNA Vault is where people store the genetic code of thousands of species, including polar bears, whose Arctic habitat is currently threatened by global warming.
Later, we enter The Laboratory – HEAL’s ecosystem simulator, where they examine how new species born from the mixed DNA of existing and extinct animals and plants will affect the environment. And finally, at the observatory, new species are observed and monitored.
“The predecessors plant the trees; the offspring enjoy the shade.”
The next destination is dedicated to our well-being. Despite our technical prowess, depression, anxiety, loneliness and addiction are common. So this is where you can get close to your body, listen to your senses, and mute the constant sound you want the most in your head.
At the museum, we can also experience an exhibition tomorrow, in which we can discover how designers, researchers, and corporations respond to some of the current challenges. It is inspired by the question posed by the influential architect Cedric Price in 1966: “Technology is the answer, but what was the question?” Now, this question seems more relevant than ever. This section shows us inventions like wireless charging tracks, new aircraft prototypes, solar power towers, intelligent plates, etc.
Complex Building Design Drives Engineers and Architects to New Levels
According to Killa, architects and engineers must use their hands to complete any complex construction. There is no alternative way to construct such a structure. Through more than 50 sustainable design choices, including recycled materials items, photovoltaics for energy, and indoor air recovery systems, the team was also able to achieve LEED Platinum through this collaborative process.
The prominent facade of the museum is a perfectly smooth, combined free assembly of 1,240 unique stainless steel and fiberglass fused panels fabricated using methods borrowed from the aviation industry. And it’s not just an eye-catching shape; It is doing all the actual work expected from any standard building envelope. “Construction of the museum building with the amazing design Kayla complex rain screen. ” Behind its surface is usually a structure made of a waterproofing design.”
And the external gloss, which can be more complicated, will be a rain screen or interface.” And the exterior facade, which can be more complex, will be a rain screen. It makes things easier because these three-dimensional shapes are created. It’s a little more forgiving when you do. However, the envelope in this building is working on waterproofing, air tightness, texture, and lighting. ”
The interior of the museum presented its challenges. Kila says that, in particular, a free-standing, double-helix ladder required deep manipulation of the rivet to create an understandable model. The idea for the ladder came from DNA.
Banana design architect Thomaso Calistri added that the double helix also does a practical job. Since the stairs descend in different places, the layout differentiates between those who have paid the entrance fee and those who Didn’t, like people who want to pop in to experience architecture.
Despite its future shape, Kayla says, the museum of the future fits into a long history of architects who push the boundaries of engineering. Yet modern technologies and materials are re-emerging in the basic approach to designing places where people live. “We have the ability to create very complex shapes that weren’t even possible to design 20, 30 years ago,” says Kayla.
So What Is the Future?
The Museum of the Future in Dubai is a very inspiring experience where you can get closer to the future by exploring and interacting with different technologies. It creates an impression and provides a set of elements that ask thought-provoking questions.
You leave this place with a mixture of surprise, curiosity, hope, and fear. According to the museum’s founders, it will serve as a platform through which philosophies, learning, ideas, and designs can be shared. Designed to inspire, it is an excellent vision of the world that can be saved if we work collectively on its future and find the right questions for technical answers.
After reading this article, I am sure you are impressed by this museum. And you’ll also want to visit it. If you want to visit this fantastic museum, then you can contact them through their website.
