Standing at 78 meters tall, the Museum of the Future (MOTF) is far from reaching Dubai’s famous skyline, which features skyscrapers like the unparalleled Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest tower. However, with its bold shape and striking façade illuminated by more than 14,000 meters of Arabic calligraphy, it certainly succeeds in taking its place among the city’s most iconic buildings. The award-winning project by Killa Design and Buro Happold, described by many as ‘the most beautiful building in the world’, opened in February of 2022 in Dubai’s Financial District. In a total built up area of 30,000 sqm, it accommodates exhibition spaces for innovative ideologies, services, and products, as well as theater spaces, a laboratory, and a research center.
Symbolizing Arab heritage and future progress, MOTF is comprised of three main parts: a green hill, the building, and the void. The green hill represents the earth – with its roots in place –, time and history. It also serves to unobtrusively elevate the museum above the adjacent metro line and create an elevated park. Likewise, the torus-shaped structure symbolizes mankind’s ability to innovate and push the limits of modern engineering and construction. The elliptical void, on the other hand, is an expression of ‘the unknown’ that seeks to inspire today’s creators to face humanity’s unwritten future.
With its magnitude, eye-catching form and extremely intricate design, the architectural and engineering marvel is one of the most advanced structures ever built. As a result, it called for a series of groundbreaking technologies to approach complex design challenges and bring the vision to life. To find out more about these technologies, we spoke with Shaun Killa and Pippa Tucker from Killa Design, the architecture firm behind the monumental building.
Challenges behind the revolutionary design
Many of the challenges encountered by architects and engineers arose from the complexity of the diagrid and façade. To overcome them, the design process required a combination of advanced materials and the latest technologies in 3D modelling software, collaborative design, and parametric construction. These digital tools were ultimately pivotal to the success of the project, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
As Shaun and Pippa shared with us, one of the most difficult features to construct was the building’s curved façade, consisting of 1,024 glass reinforced plastic and stainless-steel panels. Integrating the molded-in Arabic calligraphy in distinct 3D shapes, the carved panels play a fundamental role. During the day, they function as windows that cast natural light through the column-free interior; during the night, they illuminate the city with LED lighting. And with a depth of 1.3 meters, the windows are wide enough for visitors to stand inside in what functions as a permanent exhibition space. However, the team had to overcome multiple complexities to achieve this end result.
Innovative design principles
To address all of these complexities, the project adopted numerous innovative design principles regarding construction technologies and materials. This involved, for example, developing parametric design tools with growth algorithms “to digitally optimize the efficiency of the primary structural diagrid, façade, and the glazing elements.” The software included Revit with Dynamo and Rhino with Grasshopper. Likewise, the use of BIM was pivotal during the process, creating a precise digital model with multi-disciplinary collaboration. It was also used to produce all the drawings and for Virtual Reality clash detection, deflection tolerances and onsite real time building sequences.
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