The Museum that will take you Back to the Future

Fast forward 20 years into the future and picture this: a social network streams live your dreams and fantasies to your feed, your pizza delivery guy reaches you within seconds of placing your order, and an artificially intelligent robot greets you with your dinner when you get home from work. That's what you can expect when the Museum of the Future opens in 2018.

The temporary museum was inaugurated earlier this year in February at Madinat Jumeirah, and gave the audience a glimpse of what’s to come. The theme of the exhibition, “Machinic Life”, introduced the audience to a future of machines and the opportunities they pose in our daily lives. “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,” expressed Dubai ruler and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the launch, reports Gulf News.

At first sight, the museum appears like something out of a Back to the Future still, almost as if it has materialised out of a utopian fantasy novel. Entering the first neck of Sheikh Zayed Road, it appears suddenly like a concealed spaceship, taking drivers by surprise. Its ovular skeleton is a liberating break from its angular neighbours, but it doesn’t look foreign in this fast-developing megalopolis that constantly strives to stay ahead.

Entirely clad by steel, the museum doesn’t feature any sharp corners, deeply contrasting the buildings in the vicinity, which are characterised by International style architecture. The otherworldly design is reminiscent of a crescent moon, which is also embodied/conceptualised by the Emirates Towers in the background. Some would say it’s a stark reminder of the wheel-shaped five-star Dubai Promenade hotel, developed by Nakheel, that failed to take off.

Following the recent inauguration of the world’s first 3D printed office in the same location, the museum will also display 3D printed elements and incorporate bespoke technology. The facade is an illustrative canvas of poetry, written by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum himself, doubling up as a skylight through which light floods the interiors. At night, the skin of the building lights up the letters emblazoned across it, for the world to see.

Designed by Shaun Killa of Killa Design, he describes the void in the middle as what we don’t know, and the solid element as what we know today. Together, they form an integrated entity. The void will also display a giant holographic projection of news and latest innovations in the field.

In addition to being an incentive to Dubai’s growing portfolio of landmarks, the museum will also become a major innovation hub and will host a variety of educational courses, workshops, trainings, exhibitions, public talks and events for universities and companies.

At the rate Dubai is progressing, it is no surprise if we’ll be greeted by an artificially intelligent doorman every morning. And in the year 2035, you just might be reading this article through a holographic projector. 

 Here's a video to give you a better picture.