The museum of the future of Dubai

Description

The museum of the future

The vision of the architect

The design of the Museum of the Future is signed by architect Shaun Killa, a veteran of the Dubai architecture sector for years. The museum was his first commission after launching his solo firm. According to Killa, the museum's design is intended to represent the vision of the future of Dubai and consists of three main elements: the hill, the structure and the void.

«The green hill represents the earth, solid, permanent and rooted in its place, in time and in history... The upper building, resplendent and futuristic, represents humanity, with all its strength, its art and its ability to create in harmony with the environment”, explains the Killa design agency. “Lastly, the elliptical void within the upper structure represents innovation. This is achieved, mainly, by creating an empty space that shows the future yet to be written that it holds for humanity, and the world, in a symbolic way.

Una combinación de arte y diseño

Lo que diferencia a este museo es la caligrafía árabe que recubre toda la superficie del edificio que, al estar hecho de cristal, también funciona como sus ventanas. Comprende versos de los poemas de Su Alteza el Jeque Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vicepresidente y primer ministro de EAU y dirigente de Dubái, que expresan su visión para la ciudad.

The usable space of the museum includes several floors built on a hill, but the protagonist is the main building. It reaches 78 meters in height and is made up of seven floors, without any internal pillars, something that has been described as an engineering miracle.

This feat is made possible through a combination of advanced technology and 3D modeling, as well as the painstaking efforts of hundreds of engineers, builders and craftsmen from BAM International and BuroHappold, the main contractor and engineering consultants on the project, in addition to many another suppliers.

“Although the building has relied heavily on advanced technology, it is, after all, a man-made construction. An exceptional team has been working tirelessly. The façade panels were fabricated using robotics, however they were installed by men hanging from ropes. Although the interior forms were modeled in 3D, they were carefully hand-cast by hundreds of workers,” says the Dubai Future Foundation, developer of the Museum of the Future.

Using Building Information Modeling tools, museum designers were able to first simplify the building's shape, and then model the optimal design of its steel superstructure. You also have to take into account factors such as problems that arose during construction and the placement of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems that had to be incorporated into the model, making it a truly complex project.

Un vistazo al futuro

Haber realizado el diseño digital al milímetro dio sus frutos durante la construcción, según Tobias Bauly, director del proyecto del Museo del Futuro de Buro Happold. El diagrid de las vigas de acero y los complejos paneles de la fachada encajaron sin ningún tipo de problemas, una gran hazaña en cualquier proyecto de construcción y mucho más en uno así de sofisticado.

El resultado es un edificio que no solo encarna una visión del futuro, sino que es una manifestación física de lo que nos depara. Aunque todas las técnicas y la tecnología que contribuyeron a su construcción son de este tiempo, ningún otro gran proyecto las ha empleado todas a la vez hasta tal punto y con tal efecto.