National Museum of Marine Science and Technology Keelung, Taiwan - Open 2018 Foster + Partners is designing the $5m (£3.9m, €4.5m) National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST) in Keelung City, Taiwan. It will be the country’s largest aquarium, housing more than 300 species of marine creatures.
The design features titanium and green to create a modern light-filled environment, reminiscent of the ocean shallows. Conceived as a social hub for the community, the museum’s focal point will be a new public plaza which will feature a shop, café and a restaurant.
The marine science museum and aquarium will house at least 300 species
The attraction will attract tourists but also act as a social hub for the local community
Bell Museum and Planetarium Minnesota, Minneapolis - Open 2018 Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History has broken ground on a $79m (€71m, £62m) complex near the State Fairgrounds on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus.
To be renamed the Bell Museum and Planetarium, a 120-seat domed planetarium and theatre will be one of the main new features, in addition to expanded galleries and a host of interactive exhibitions. The museum’s dioramas will be integrated with new exhibits to create a journey through Minnesota’s biomes.
Minneapolis-based architecture firm Perkins+Will have created the box structure, which will be partially clad in white pine and weathering steel. The environmentally-friendly development will be landscaped with native trees and plants, while rainwater ponds will be included, as will a pollinator garden for the museum’s bees.
Bell Museum and Planetarium
Mathematics: The Winton Gallery London, UK - Open 2016 The late architect Zaha Hadid’s design for a new maths gallery at London’s Science Museum will explore how mathematicians, their tools and ideas have helped to shape the modern world over the last 400 years. Mathematics: The Winton Gallery is expected to cost £5m ($6.4m, €5.7m).
More than 100 objects from the Science Museum’s collections – including a WWII Enigma machine, an early aircraft and a 17th century Islamic astrolabe – will show how mathematical practice “has shaped and been shaped by money, trade, travel, war, life and death.”
Mathematical principles define Zaha Hadid Architects’ curving design for the gallery. The 3D swooping surfaces around the exhibited aircraft represent the patterns of airflow that would have streamed around it when in flight.
“Mathematical practice underpins so many aspects of our lives and work, and we hope that bringing together these remarkable stories, people and exhibits will inspire visitors to think about the role of mathematics in a new light,” says exhibition curator David Rooney.
The gallery aims to explore stories behind mathematics, making it more accessible and fun to the general public
Science Island Kaunas, Lithuania - Open 2018 SMAR Architecture Studio, SimpsonHaugh and Partners, and Donghua Chen Studio have been shortlisted in the design competition to create a Science Island for the Lithuanian city Kaunas.
The centrepiece of the 18-hectare (44-acre) Science Island – the new name for the currently disused Nemunas Island – will be the National Science and Innovation Centre of Lithuania. As a museum and innovation centre, the 13,000sqm (140,000sq ft) facility will celebrate recent achievements in science and global technologies with the aim of inspiring visitors to expand their knowledge and support innovation.
“The initiative has clearly resonated, being both universally and humanly relevant, as well as of great national importance for Lithuania,” said the country’s prime minister, Algirdas Butkevicius. “We believe that Science Island will show how science can inspire positive change for the planet and humanity.”
Science Island will have a museum and innovation centre celebrating global technological advancements
Carnegie Science Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Open 2018 Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center has detailed plans for its $21m (£16m, €19m) Science Pavilion to include 1,300sqm (14,000sq ft) of new exhibition space. Designed by Indovina Associates Architects, the three-storey building will be built around the existing Omnimax Theater with the pavilion facing out over the Ohio River. In addition to temporary exhibition space, the extension will feature nine STEM learning labs and a top-floor space capable of hosting corporate events and social gatherings.
“With this new travelling exhibition space, we’ll be able to bring to Pittsburgh the kind of blockbuster traveling exhibitions that are all over North America now, that come to Philadelphia and Chicago and Washington DC, but bypass Pittsburgh because there isn’t adequate space,” said the science centre’s co-director, Ann Metzger.
The pavilion’s development is part of a larger $34.5m (€30.7m, £26.5m) campaign to expand the science centre’s STEM programme. Dubbed SPARK!, the campaign will also fund two new permanent exhibitions for the science centre, as well as a giant screen digital theatre and future endowment costs.
Carnegie Science Centre is getting new space for touring and permanent exhibitions
Carnegie Science Centre is getting new space for touring and permanent exhibitions
Esplora Kalkara, Malta - Open 2016 Malta’s first interactive science centre, Esplora, officially opens on 28 October. The €26m (US$28.7m, £23.5m) science attraction is located in the former naval hospital site on the Grand Harbour, overlooking the historic capital city of Valletta. The project is supported by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The site consists of four buildings and an outdoor space, each displaying exhibits and presenting live science. Esplora’s thematic areas include the universe, electricity and magnetism, earth science, eco life, human biology, motion and forces, light and optics, illusions, music, nature of matter, engineering and telecommunications.
The building was designed by Malta architecture studio DRT. Dutch design agency NorthernLight and museum technology experts Bruns are designed the universe exhibition and the ground floor of the main building, featuring over 100 interactive hands-on exhibits. There is also a brand new planetarium with a Colorspace 4K fulldome theatre system from SCISS.
Esplora is at the site of the largest naval military hospital in the Mediterranean, responsible for treating numerous sick and injured soldiers through the years
Esplora is at the site of the largest naval military hospital in the Mediterranean, responsible for treating numerous sick and injured soldiers through the years
Experimenta Heilbronn, Germany - Open 2018 Experimenta in Heilbronn, Germany, is expanding with a next-door museum funded by the Dieter Schwarz foundation and designed by Berlin architects Sauerbruch & Hutton. The extension will include four permanent galleries, a glass biosphere, a dome, workshops, studios, a restaurant and shop.
Bruns and Northern Light are working on two galleries, dedicated to world perspectives and living matter. Big German companies like Audi and Lidl are said to be collaborating as well as Berlin studio inges, construction manager Drees & Sommer and brand agency Milla & Partner. Kraftwerk Living Technologies is responsible for AV and show control in the Science Dome.
The Experimenta extension will include new galleries, workshops and studios
Cairo Science City Cairo, Egypt - Open 2021 Architecture studio Weston Williamson + Partners is designing a Science City for Egypt. The firm won a competition to design a concept for a 12.5-hectare (30-acre) complex that will promote scientific knowledge to the public.
The Science City will be built in the desert in a new town on the western edge of the Egyptian capital. The complex will house interactive science exhibitions, a museum, a planetarium, an observation tower, research and development facilities, workshops, plus a conference centre. It will be the first 21st-century science museum, learning and research facility in Egypt.
The brief called for “a set of buildings and spaces that must be inspiring on the outside and motivating and exciting on the inside to visitors and employees alike.”
“Needless to say that Egypt has a unique cultural heritage, but we were also attracted by the ambition of the project, clearly expressed through the brief,” says studio co-founder Chris Williamson.
Architects Weston WIlliamson + Partners say they aim to design a facility that will serve Egypt’s future generations
Architects Weston WIlliamson + Partners say they aim to design a facility that will serve Egypt’s future generations
Science Centre: The Planetarium and The Exploratorium Quy Nhon, Vietnam - Open 2017 Construction of the first visitor science complex in Vietnam’s coastal province of Binh Dinh is under way, with the state-funded project costing around $8m (£6.3m, €7.2m).
The 38,000sq m (409,000sq ft) Quy Nhon-sited development – designed by French architect Jean-Francois Milou of Studio Milou in collaboration with Vietnamese firm TAD Consultancy and Architecture – will include an 80-seat 4K planetarium, exploratorium, science centre and a space observatory complete with a café, library and souvenir shop.
Designed to “be in complete harmony with the area’s natural landscape and space”, the eco-friendly complex will aim to provide a public science space and foster scientific engagement among the younger generation. The complex – which is being built beside the three-year-old International Centre of Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE) – will also act as a hub for scientific tourism development.
The new facility will have a planetarium
Shanghai Planetarium Shanghai, China - Open 2018 The 38,000sqm (409,000sq ft) Shanghai Planetarium – a part of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in the city’s new Linglang district – will explore the mysteries of space, celebrate the history of Chinese astronomy and reflect the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme.
The attraction will feature an optical planetarium, a digital sky theatre, an IMAX cinema, a solar telescope, an observatory and a range of galleries. The futuristic planetarium design is by New York-based Ennead Architects.
The new attraction will look at the history of Chinese astronomy and the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme
The new attraction will look at the history of Chinese astronomy and the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme
Patricia & Phillip Frost Museum of Science Miami, Florida - Open 2017 The embattled $307m (£251m, €281m) Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science is set to open next year after multiple delays. The three-storey, 250,000sq ft (32,225sqm) facility is sited on a prominent location on the Miami waterfront. Structured around a ‘living core’ comprised of terrestrial and aquatic exhibits, the attraction will have a 510,000 gallon aquarium, planetarium, a health gallery, hands-on exhibits and interactive digital technology. It’s being touted as the “next generation” of science museum.
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
Attractions Management’s round up of new investments in
science-related museums and planetariums across the world
National Museum of Marine Science and Technology Keelung, Taiwan - Open 2018 Foster + Partners is designing the $5m (£3.9m, €4.5m) National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST) in Keelung City, Taiwan. It will be the country’s largest aquarium, housing more than 300 species of marine creatures.
The design features titanium and green to create a modern light-filled environment, reminiscent of the ocean shallows. Conceived as a social hub for the community, the museum’s focal point will be a new public plaza which will feature a shop, café and a restaurant.
The marine science museum and aquarium will house at least 300 species
The attraction will attract tourists but also act as a social hub for the local community
Bell Museum and Planetarium Minnesota, Minneapolis - Open 2018 Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History has broken ground on a $79m (€71m, £62m) complex near the State Fairgrounds on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus.
To be renamed the Bell Museum and Planetarium, a 120-seat domed planetarium and theatre will be one of the main new features, in addition to expanded galleries and a host of interactive exhibitions. The museum’s dioramas will be integrated with new exhibits to create a journey through Minnesota’s biomes.
Minneapolis-based architecture firm Perkins+Will have created the box structure, which will be partially clad in white pine and weathering steel. The environmentally-friendly development will be landscaped with native trees and plants, while rainwater ponds will be included, as will a pollinator garden for the museum’s bees.
Bell Museum and Planetarium
Mathematics: The Winton Gallery London, UK - Open 2016 The late architect Zaha Hadid’s design for a new maths gallery at London’s Science Museum will explore how mathematicians, their tools and ideas have helped to shape the modern world over the last 400 years. Mathematics: The Winton Gallery is expected to cost £5m ($6.4m, €5.7m).
More than 100 objects from the Science Museum’s collections – including a WWII Enigma machine, an early aircraft and a 17th century Islamic astrolabe – will show how mathematical practice “has shaped and been shaped by money, trade, travel, war, life and death.”
Mathematical principles define Zaha Hadid Architects’ curving design for the gallery. The 3D swooping surfaces around the exhibited aircraft represent the patterns of airflow that would have streamed around it when in flight.
“Mathematical practice underpins so many aspects of our lives and work, and we hope that bringing together these remarkable stories, people and exhibits will inspire visitors to think about the role of mathematics in a new light,” says exhibition curator David Rooney.
The gallery aims to explore stories behind mathematics, making it more accessible and fun to the general public
Science Island Kaunas, Lithuania - Open 2018 SMAR Architecture Studio, SimpsonHaugh and Partners, and Donghua Chen Studio have been shortlisted in the design competition to create a Science Island for the Lithuanian city Kaunas.
The centrepiece of the 18-hectare (44-acre) Science Island – the new name for the currently disused Nemunas Island – will be the National Science and Innovation Centre of Lithuania. As a museum and innovation centre, the 13,000sqm (140,000sq ft) facility will celebrate recent achievements in science and global technologies with the aim of inspiring visitors to expand their knowledge and support innovation.
“The initiative has clearly resonated, being both universally and humanly relevant, as well as of great national importance for Lithuania,” said the country’s prime minister, Algirdas Butkevicius. “We believe that Science Island will show how science can inspire positive change for the planet and humanity.”
Science Island will have a museum and innovation centre celebrating global technological advancements
Carnegie Science Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Open 2018 Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center has detailed plans for its $21m (£16m, €19m) Science Pavilion to include 1,300sqm (14,000sq ft) of new exhibition space. Designed by Indovina Associates Architects, the three-storey building will be built around the existing Omnimax Theater with the pavilion facing out over the Ohio River. In addition to temporary exhibition space, the extension will feature nine STEM learning labs and a top-floor space capable of hosting corporate events and social gatherings.
“With this new travelling exhibition space, we’ll be able to bring to Pittsburgh the kind of blockbuster traveling exhibitions that are all over North America now, that come to Philadelphia and Chicago and Washington DC, but bypass Pittsburgh because there isn’t adequate space,” said the science centre’s co-director, Ann Metzger.
The pavilion’s development is part of a larger $34.5m (€30.7m, £26.5m) campaign to expand the science centre’s STEM programme. Dubbed SPARK!, the campaign will also fund two new permanent exhibitions for the science centre, as well as a giant screen digital theatre and future endowment costs.
Carnegie Science Centre is getting new space for touring and permanent exhibitions
Carnegie Science Centre is getting new space for touring and permanent exhibitions
Esplora Kalkara, Malta - Open 2016 Malta’s first interactive science centre, Esplora, officially opens on 28 October. The €26m (US$28.7m, £23.5m) science attraction is located in the former naval hospital site on the Grand Harbour, overlooking the historic capital city of Valletta. The project is supported by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The site consists of four buildings and an outdoor space, each displaying exhibits and presenting live science. Esplora’s thematic areas include the universe, electricity and magnetism, earth science, eco life, human biology, motion and forces, light and optics, illusions, music, nature of matter, engineering and telecommunications.
The building was designed by Malta architecture studio DRT. Dutch design agency NorthernLight and museum technology experts Bruns are designed the universe exhibition and the ground floor of the main building, featuring over 100 interactive hands-on exhibits. There is also a brand new planetarium with a Colorspace 4K fulldome theatre system from SCISS.
Esplora is at the site of the largest naval military hospital in the Mediterranean, responsible for treating numerous sick and injured soldiers through the years
Esplora is at the site of the largest naval military hospital in the Mediterranean, responsible for treating numerous sick and injured soldiers through the years
Experimenta Heilbronn, Germany - Open 2018 Experimenta in Heilbronn, Germany, is expanding with a next-door museum funded by the Dieter Schwarz foundation and designed by Berlin architects Sauerbruch & Hutton. The extension will include four permanent galleries, a glass biosphere, a dome, workshops, studios, a restaurant and shop.
Bruns and Northern Light are working on two galleries, dedicated to world perspectives and living matter. Big German companies like Audi and Lidl are said to be collaborating as well as Berlin studio inges, construction manager Drees & Sommer and brand agency Milla & Partner. Kraftwerk Living Technologies is responsible for AV and show control in the Science Dome.
The Experimenta extension will include new galleries, workshops and studios
Cairo Science City Cairo, Egypt - Open 2021 Architecture studio Weston Williamson + Partners is designing a Science City for Egypt. The firm won a competition to design a concept for a 12.5-hectare (30-acre) complex that will promote scientific knowledge to the public.
The Science City will be built in the desert in a new town on the western edge of the Egyptian capital. The complex will house interactive science exhibitions, a museum, a planetarium, an observation tower, research and development facilities, workshops, plus a conference centre. It will be the first 21st-century science museum, learning and research facility in Egypt.
The brief called for “a set of buildings and spaces that must be inspiring on the outside and motivating and exciting on the inside to visitors and employees alike.”
“Needless to say that Egypt has a unique cultural heritage, but we were also attracted by the ambition of the project, clearly expressed through the brief,” says studio co-founder Chris Williamson.
Architects Weston WIlliamson + Partners say they aim to design a facility that will serve Egypt’s future generations
Architects Weston WIlliamson + Partners say they aim to design a facility that will serve Egypt’s future generations
Science Centre: The Planetarium and The Exploratorium Quy Nhon, Vietnam - Open 2017 Construction of the first visitor science complex in Vietnam’s coastal province of Binh Dinh is under way, with the state-funded project costing around $8m (£6.3m, €7.2m).
The 38,000sq m (409,000sq ft) Quy Nhon-sited development – designed by French architect Jean-Francois Milou of Studio Milou in collaboration with Vietnamese firm TAD Consultancy and Architecture – will include an 80-seat 4K planetarium, exploratorium, science centre and a space observatory complete with a café, library and souvenir shop.
Designed to “be in complete harmony with the area’s natural landscape and space”, the eco-friendly complex will aim to provide a public science space and foster scientific engagement among the younger generation. The complex – which is being built beside the three-year-old International Centre of Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE) – will also act as a hub for scientific tourism development.
The new facility will have a planetarium
Shanghai Planetarium Shanghai, China - Open 2018 The 38,000sqm (409,000sq ft) Shanghai Planetarium – a part of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in the city’s new Linglang district – will explore the mysteries of space, celebrate the history of Chinese astronomy and reflect the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme.
The attraction will feature an optical planetarium, a digital sky theatre, an IMAX cinema, a solar telescope, an observatory and a range of galleries. The futuristic planetarium design is by New York-based Ennead Architects.
The new attraction will look at the history of Chinese astronomy and the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme
The new attraction will look at the history of Chinese astronomy and the future ambitions of China’s space exploration programme
Patricia & Phillip Frost Museum of Science Miami, Florida - Open 2017 The embattled $307m (£251m, €281m) Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science is set to open next year after multiple delays. The three-storey, 250,000sq ft (32,225sqm) facility is sited on a prominent location on the Miami waterfront. Structured around a ‘living core’ comprised of terrestrial and aquatic exhibits, the attraction will have a 510,000 gallon aquarium, planetarium, a health gallery, hands-on exhibits and interactive digital technology. It’s being touted as the “next generation” of science museum.
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
The project, which was designed by Grimshaw Architects, will include a planetarium and aquarium
Originally published in Attractions Management 2016 issue 4
