Dubai unveils vision for Museum of the Future to showcase innovation in design
An oval museum filled with robots and other technological inventions has been scheduled for construction in Dubai (+ movie).
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, revealed plans this week for the Museum of the Future – an institution dedicated to innovation in design and technology.
The Dubai ruler said on Twitter that the museum will be "a destination for the best and brightest inventors and entrepreneurs", offering an "integrated environment empowering creative minds to test, fund and market ideas for futuristic prototypes and services".
Set for completion in 2017, the museum will be located beside the Emirates Towers on Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Road. The name of the architect has not yet been revealed.
A two-minute movie fly-through reveals designs for a hollow oval structure, with a holographic billboard at its centre. Steel panels will clad its exterior, inscribed with some of Sheikh Mohammed's Arabic poetry.
Large sections of the structure are also expected to be built using 3D-printed components.
The building's motto will be "See the future, create the future". It is expected to bring together inventors, designers and researchers, presenting a range of technologies in automotives, robotics, genetics and more.
"The Museum of the Future will be an incubator for ideas and real designs, a driver for innovation and a global destination for inventors and entrepreneurs,” said Sheikh Mohammad at the launch.
"The world is entering a new era of accelerated knowledge and great technological revolutions," he added. "We aim to lead in that era, not to follow and lag behind. The Museum of the Future is the first step of many to come, marking the beginning of great achievements."
The museum will be located a short drive away from the 828-metre-high Burj Khalifa – the world's tallest built structure. Other ambitious projects underway in the emirate include a pair of buildings expected to become the world's tallest twin towers, a sculptural hotel by Zaha Hadid and the world's first indoor city.