Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany by Zaha Hadid Architects

Article source: Zaha Hadid Architects

Described variously as ‘an architectural adventure playground’ and ‘the magic box’, Phaeno realizes our continuing vision of creating ‘complex, dynamic and fluid spaces’ – from the gently undulating artificial hills and valleys created below the main elevated structure, to the crater-like museum floor, naturally lit spaces and accessible funnels within.

Phaeno Science Centre

• Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
• Project: Phaeno Science Centre
• Location: Wolfsburg, Germany
• Project Area: 12,000m2
• Completion Date: 2000 – 2005
• Design: Zaha Hadid with Christos Passas
• Project Architect: Christos Passas
• Assistant Project Architect: Sara Klomps

Phaeno Science Centre

• Project Team: Sara Klomps, Gernot Finselbach, David Salazar, Helmut Kinzler
• Competition Team: Christos Passas, Janne Westermann, Chris Dopheide, Stanley Lau, Eddie Can, Yoash Oster, Jan Hubener, Caroline Voet
• Contributors: Patrik Schumacher (Director), Silvia Forlati, Guenter Barczik, Lida Charsouli, Marcus Liermann, Kenneth Bostock, Enrico Kleinke, Constanze Stinnes, Liam Young, Chris Dopheide, Barbara Kuit, Niki Neerpasch, Markus Dochantschi
• Local Architect: Mayer Baehrle, Lörrach, Germany
• Structural: AKT Adams Kara Taylor, London, UK, Tokarz Freirichs Leipold, Hanover, Germany
• MEP / Services: NEK, Braunschweig, Germany, Buro Happold, Berlin, London
• Cost / QS: Hanscomb GmbH, Germany
• Lighting: Fahlke & Dettmer, Hanover, Germany, Office for Visual Interaction, New York, USA

Phaeno Science Centre

The Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, was the very first science museum of its kind in Germany when it opened its doors to visitors in November 2005. On completion, the building represented the biggest single investment made by the city to date. It occupies an important site at the centre of Wolfsburg, completing a chain of significant cultural buildings by Aalto, Scharoun and Schweger and connecting via a bridge across the Mittelland Kanal to Volkswagen’s car manufacturing city, Autostadt.

Phaeno Science Centre

Concepts and designs for the building were inspired by the idea of magic box – a object capable of awakening curiosity and the desire for discovery in all who open or enter it.

From the moment of arrival, pedestrians and vehicles are pulled through an artificial landscape and into the building, which is structured in a way that maximizes its transparency and porosity – with the main volume, housing the exhibition space, raised and covering an outdoor public plaza. Here, amongst gently undulating man-made hills and valleys commercial and cultural functions are housed within the supporting concrete cones.

Phaeno Science Centre

The landscape inside this ‘architectural adventure playground’ is every bit as surprising. Visitors find themselves in a crater-like landscape – a ‘wonderland’ containing 250 Experimental Stations, providing diagonal views onto different exhibition levels and protruding masses which accommodate a variety of back-of-house functions.

Prior to its opening, Zaha Hadid described the Phaeno as: ‘the most ambitious and complete statement of our quest for complex, dynamic and fluid spaces’. She also explained, that realization of its avant-garde design required methods and materials unattainable through conventional construction techniques: ‘This project combines formal and geometric complexity with structural audacity and material authenticity. A lot of time and energy was concentrated on achieving this result.’

Phaeno Science Centre

Phaeno Science Centre

Phaeno Science Centre

Phaeno Science Centre

Phaeno Science Centre

Tags: Germany, Wolfsburg

Category: Science Club

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