First Look | The Museum of the Future – An Eye into the Future
First Look | The Museum of the Future – An Eye into the Future
As a general rule, most museums preserve, highlight and showcase a part of the history or a thing of the past. Well, Dubai is known to create new rules – rules of its own. Now, it has unveiled a museum that looks into the future – the Museum of the Future.
Welcome to the year 2071! Welcome to the future.
The mesmerising Dubai Skyline, along the speeding Sheikh Zayed Road, has a new hero – the Museum of the Future. It is a dream project of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and he proudly says it to be ‘The Most Beautiful Building on Earth.’ A building that makes you time travel to the year 2071.
Museum of the future officially opened to the world on 22.02.2022. For the past two years, the world was eagerly waiting and looking towards Dubai for two reasons – how they will execute the Expo 2020 that too amid pandemic concerns and when will the Museum of the future finally open to the world.
Now that Expo 2020 is over the crowd is flocking to visit the Museum of the future, it is difficult to secure a ticket that is sold only online as of now. When I booked, the tickets were sold out two weeks in advance. I managed to secure one after a lot of hits and trials.
Design and Structure of the Museum of the Future
Dubai skyline is famous for its skyscrapers and the design of the Museum of the Future is what makes it stand out. It has the shape of an eye – an eye into the future.
The Museum is stunning both from the outside and inside whether you visit during the daytime or night. The exterior Arabic calligraphic patterns heighten the curiosity which when translated gives a ‘Message of Hope.’ The torus-shaped elliptical architectural marvel is divided into seven floors and is 77m tall and spreads across 33000 square meters.
The Museum is designed by Shaun Killa and is based on an illustration by the Emirati artist Mattar bin Lahej which was transposed digitally onto a scaled model from which the cut-outs were created for the stainless steel façade that consists of 1,024 plates. Manufactured entirely by robots, each plate is composed of four layers—each layer created through a 16-step process.
My Experience of the Museum of the Future
Have you ever been into a spaceship? If not, then here is your amazing chance to get spellbound by experiencing what it feels like to enter a spacecraft.
After security screening at the entrance, you are requested to proceed towards self-servicing kiosks where you will enter your booking details and a digital tag along with a wristband would be dispensed. This tag will help the system identify you at various places throughout the journey and personalises the messages with your info. You can keep this wristband after the visit is over and can take it back as a cool souvenir.
While you wait at the turnstile to enter, you soak in the futuristic beauty of the museum. The most immersive feature was the interior walls which would keep illuminating in a firefly manner and three cylindrical lifts next to spherical stairs.
I was lucky enough to catch a huge flying-worm like spacecraft. If you are lucky you might even catch a glimpse of a flying ironman.
An avatar ‘Aya’ welcomes you on the journey and guides you throughout.
The top three floors are divided into 3 chapters.
Chapter 1: Orbital Space Station (OSS Hope)
Chapter 2: The HEAL Institute
Chapter 3: Al Waha – The Oasis
Floor 2: Tomorrow Today and the Observatory Deck
Chapter -1: Launch to the OSS Hope
The journey begins when you enter a spacecraft called Hope, named after the UAE Mars orbiter. Well, it’s actually a lift but the inside of it feels like a spacecraft. There are screens placed inside that look like windows where you will see the entire Dubai skyline and shoreline on your way to the OSS Hope space station 600 km above Earth. It is designed to make you feel the tremble of the throttle of a spacecraft at ignition and lift-off.
A 4-min journey ends with the spacecraft docking at OSS hope space station. You will see a scaled-down prototype of the OSS hope. Moving ahead you will witness another scaled version of the entire solar system with planets and moons orbiting and revolving around the sun.
How the job opportunities would shape a futuristic space human colony? To find the answer move on to the next section inside the museum.
OSS Hope inspires visitors to utilize the accessibility to space to avail solar energy from panels installed on the moon to power earth
You exit and take the stairs to reach the next floor.
Chapter 2: The HEAL Institute – Enter the Amazon
Inside The HEAL Institute, you find a giant screen that showcases the rainforests of the Amazon. The screen shows actual footage captured in the rainforest.
In reality the Amazon generates more than half of its rainfall through recycling by its trees but today because of deforestation, climate change and wildfires the system has been broken in many places.
Aya says, ‘At HEAL, we are working to repair the Earth’s natural ecosystems, with the help of artificial intelligence and bio-design.’
The DNA Library
Just like how they depict in sci-fi space movies where they take a sample of DNAs to different planets and space stations in the quest to preserve those species for future generations, the DNA Library practically executes that in real life.
The Library has more than 2400 DNA of species varying from mammals, angiosperms, annelids and molluscs. A smart device would be provided which when taken closer to the sample would detail all the information related to that particular DNA sample.
For me this part of the museum was one of the most mind-blowing experiences. The ambiance and aesthetics of the DNA library is simply surreal.
The Heal Observatory – A futuristic nursery
The next section on the same floor is a futuristic nursery where they are actually growing and cultivating things that would become a regular affair in the future. For example, they have grown a tree with insulated wood which means this tree is free from the devastation caused by a forest fire.
They have many such micro-pods where something ridiculously amazing is happening. One such pod was preparing honey from an artificial hive.
Although a regular trip would be over in like 2 hours but there is no time restriction as such. You can spend as much time as you wish in a single section.
The HEAL institute showcases how people can leverage the advancement of the health sector to preserve earth species and restore the planet.
Moving on to the next chapter.
Chapter 3: Al Waha – The Oasis
Here lies the Museum’s core message that encourages people to disconnect from technology and re-immerse into their inner self, spirit, and mind.
The third floor has a futuristic Oasis – Al Waha. Just like in an arid desert an oasis is a life savior catering to all your senses, similarly, Al Waha would be a futuristic spa where visitors will experience restorative effects of movement and meditation.
You are welcomed with an aromatic vapour hand sanitiser built in the shape of a flower, inside of which looks like a fountain from the future.
Aya would be explaining and guiding you throughout this stage about the amazing sensory features of the Al Waha.
Then you move on to a special digital carpet which gives an illusion as if you are walking on a sandy beach.
Furthermore, they have many sections which provide different therapies like grounding therapy and connection therapy
Moving on to the second floor – ‘Tomorrow Today’…wait this post is getting too long let me cover the rest of this futuristic mesmerising journey in the next part. (Coming Soon in a couple of days)
Ticket
The ticket is a little on the expensive side with each ticket costing 145 AED. You can book the online tickets here. You will have to choose a time slot at which you are going to visit.
How to Reach the Museum of the Future
The best way is to take a metro (red line) and get down at the Emirates Tower metro station and take the connecting walking bridge to the museum. You can also take a taxi or a bus to the museum.
For all those who love Sci-fi
For all those who are die-hard fans of futuristic innovation
For all those who want to visit the Museum of the Future
And
For all those who have already undertaken this surrealistic journey
It’s not a goodbye
But it’s a GOOD BYE
Manas ‘Sameer’ Mukul
Did you like this post? Are you waiting for the next part? Tell me more about your experience in the comments.
I have extensively covered Dubai/UAE. You can read all the posts here.
Wow, this certainly is one place worth visitng that too before 2071 I think.
I really loved the design of the museum, it’s quiet unique. A complete different world inside it.
Thanks for sharing such detailed post.
Thank you ji again for reading and visiting the blog again today. It is an amazing place. Definitely worth a visit. 😊😊👍🏽👍🏽
Your post is as grand as the museum itself. Enjoyed reading about it in details and the pictures are breathtakingly gorgeous. Thanks for sharing it with us. Keep travelling keep writing 🙂
Thank you so much for reading and appreciating the post and sharing it. Means a lot. 😊👍🏽