Museum of the Future – Journey of the Pioneers
In this museum, visitors are invited to embark upon an expedition to a future for which they will, through individual choices, become part of a collective effort to create a better future for all humanity.
Agency
Atelier Brüeckner GmbH
Practice Area
Client
Dubai Future Foundation
Industry
The Challenge
The main challenge of the project was to provide an experience that is both in-world and non-stereotypical, and to provide visitors an alternative view of the future that is not only focused on technological advancements, but rather on our role in shaping it, overcoming collectively and individually the challenges that we will be faced with in the future.
To achieve this, a collective endeavour of more than a hundred designers, historians, architects, storytellers, artists, curators, future technologists and scientists, amongst others, all came together, contributing into what has become one of the most complex operations we have achieved as a studio, on every single level. Spanning from the environmental and spatial design, the content development, the Media production, prototyping and R&D, budget balancing all the way to the final execution and implementation, in a time period spanning slightly over 2 years.
Project Vision
In this museum, visitors are invited to embark upon an expedition to a future for which they will, through individual choices, become part of a collective effort to create a better future for all humanity.
The experience stretches over three chapters and 3000 Square meters of exhibition space. Every floor has been created as an in-world immersive experience, with strikingly powerful spatial narratives focusing on a vision and the challenges of the future: Life in space, bioengineering and the regeneration of damaged ecosystems, and individual wellbeing.
DNA Library closeup
Giovanni Gallanello
Elevator
Giovanni Gallanello
Design + Execution
The “Journey of the Pioneers” exhibition was created as a fully immersive experience, whereas each of the chapters is designed to provide a completely in-world and convincing environment to the visitors, with emphasis on the suspension of disbelief.
The choreographed sequence of installations, with moments of intensity, moments of decompression and release, emotional and sensorial engagements on all levels, as well as the sounds, the scents, the light tones, and most importantly, the choice of materials, all play a significant role in the experience.
As an example, the space station walls are interwoven 3d printed meshes that appear to be made from asteroid mined material. The walls of the HEAL Institute are made of sustainable rattan palm, and natural clay engulfs the ALWAHA walls. Every detail has been precisely devised and crafted, and the use of technological tools was only put forward to enhance the narrative and the storytelling.
In all its complexities, and the emphasis of providing convincing environments, the entire built-up of the exhibition was designed in a modular way, a box in a box, completely independent from the architectural shell housing it, enabling an almost complete reusability of all the components used.
View from OSS Hope space station to Earth
Giovanni Gallanello
Journey of the Pioneers
Giovanni Gallanello
Entrance to Alwaha
Giovanni Gallanello
Project Details
A dazzling variety of environments that activate our senses and our imagination. This speculative design exercise is wide-ranging. A provocation that helps us contemplate where our relationship with nature and technology is taking us.
This museum tackles a speculative future in a unique way. The jurors love the moment where there was a projection on a flat surface that then became dimensional in one of the exhibitions. We also liked how the viewers was an active participant in the fictional futures explored in this exhibit. The museum employed existing technology in a way that felt new and inventive.
The media created for the experience perfectly aligns with the physical objects and tactile nature of the experience offering guests multiple ways to activate their environment.
Design Team
Atelier Brückner GmBH (lead design consultant)
Wassim Melki (project & design director)
Rana Rmeily (content management & coordination, ui-ux + experiential graphic design)
Mihai Vanca (technical & interface director)
Sungha Kim (senior exhibition designer)
Deyana Stareva (exhibition designer)
Framestore: Jason Fox (creative director)
Alt Space
Igor Voloschuk (director/ceo)
Galerija 12
Dorjan Kolundzija (creative director)
Mina Padezanin (project manager/producer)
Marshmallow Laser Feast
Ersin Han Ersin (creative director)
Carolina Vallejo (project producer)
Superflux
Anab Jain (director)
Jon Ardem (director)
Certain Measures
Andrew Witt (lead creative)
Polytope Agency
Micah Silver (principal sound designer)
Emilie Baltz (creative concept lead)
DeepLocal: Brittany Bell (creative program lead)
Jason Bruges Studios
Jason Bruges (creative director)
Daria Jelonek (designer/project manager)
Collaborators
Al-Tayer Stocks (general contractor)
AVI-SPL (av-integrator)
Galerija 12 (special exhibit fabricator)
MKTe (special exhibit fabricator)
ID3D (special exhibit fabricator)
DeepLocal (special exhibit fabricator)
Jason Bruges Studios (special exhibit fabricator)
Medien Project p2 (av hardware planning)
Belzner Holmes Light Design (light design & programming)
Buro Happold (engineering services)
Photo Credits
Giovanni Gallanello (photography), Chris Kroh, Atelier Brüeckner GmbH (videography)
Open Date
February 2022