What is the first thing you think you would see in a museum? I would guess the most common answer would be “a celebration of the past.” And, it makes sense, since most museums were created to collect and showcase artifacts from the past and have done this job amazingly for over three centuries. However, how would you feel about a museum that strictly looks into the future? The Museum of Tomorrow in Rio, Brazil, aspires to engage visitors to think about what we are doing today, and how it affects “tomorrow.”
As a science center, the Museum of Tomorrow proposes to explore solutions that would enhance the way we live on Earth. It not only challenges the World’s Nations’ commitment to sustainability, but also invites us to discuss how we, 7.6 billion individuals, will choose to live as a community.
As described in The Guardian, US Edition, in the Museum of Tomorrow, “the main exhibition is almost entirely digital, focusing on ideas rather than objects.” The whole exhibition was created by a group of more than 30 consultants, collaborating with Brazilian and international institutions, like UNESCO and MIT.
The main exhibition’s narrative is distilled in five zones. “Cosmos”, the first space, which explores where we come from, engulfs the visitor in a 360-degree film that travels through 13.7 billion years of natural evolution in 8 minutes.
The next stop is “Earth”, which reflects on who we are by breaking it down into “Matter”, “Life” and “Mind.” Spatially translated into three 23 x 23 x 23-foot cubical spaces: “Matter” zooms in and out of what makes the planet Earth, while “Life” uses DNA to describe all the living organisms in the Guanabara Bay, where the museum is located, and “Mind”, considers human behavior in relation to its environment.
Next in the sequence comes “Anthropocene”, which discusses where we are in the human age. It outlines how we have changed the environment in the name of progress. Also, the exhibit approaches human intervention from all angles, from creating over-populated cities to the advances of medical sciences, like the invention of penicillin. Mainly organized with six totems 30-foot high by 9-foot wide displayed in a circle, Stonehenge-like, visitors are invited to interact with the screens and get more detailed information.
Still further along is the area titled “Tomorrows”, which investigates where we are going with our actions. According with the museum’s website, it invites visitors to think about six topics: “climate change, alterations in the environment, growing population and increased life span, greater cultural and regional integration and differentiation, advances in technology and expanded knowledge.” This exhibition is divided in the three sections: “Planet”, the “Society” and “Human Beings.”
Finally, visitors arrive at “Us”. In the final exhibit the museum allows visitors to decompress and absorb all the information shared so far by surrounding them in a soft show of lights and sounds. The intention is that knowledge gets consolidated inside an “oca”-like enclosure typical from indigenous tribes, where youngsters would learn from the elderly.
Through the eyes of a designer, the building is magnificent, taking in consideration its site relationships, design concept, and sustainable features. Designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the building responds to the narrow and long shape of Maua Pier, built in 1950 for the first Olympic Games in Brazil.
Calatrava, who is frequently inspired by nature, studied the shape of Bromeliads, a typical South America plant, to develop a proposal for the building mass. His sketches show how the flower’s shape could be transformed into a series of inhabitable spaces.
Bromeliads are also known for accumulating water among their leaves to support the surrounding flora and fauna. Possibly inspired by studying both the form and function of the leaves, Calatrava also included in the design reflecting pools flanking the building and below the 45-meter long [147-foot long] overhang facing the Guanabara Bay. In the side facing Maua Square, a 75-meter long [246-foot long] overhang welcomes visitors. Also known for his fascination with the human body, Calatrava abstracted the shape of an eye to design glazing systems at both ends of the structure.
As described in the museum’s website, it “includes 5,000 square meters of temporary and permanent exhibition space, as well as a 7,600 square meter plaza that wraps around the structure and extends along the dock.”Here again we see the relationship between past and future, since, due to a building restriction, the museum could not be higher than 18-meter high to protect “the view from the bay of Sao Bento Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
Moreover, as visitors learn about sustainability in the exhibits, they walk through a Gold LEED certified building, which certification was issued by the Brazilian Green Building Council. Among its sustainable features, the museum captures solar energy through movable photovoltaic panels and collects cold water from the Guanabara Bay for HVAC cooling and to fill the reflecting pools. After the reflecting pool water is filtered, it is returned to the bay in a cascade at the end of the pier.
With an eye to the future, and another to the past, the Museum of Tomorrow has already hosted one million visitors since its inauguration in December 17th, 2015. The experience may be ultra-sensorial, but the goal is simple: What can we do to build a more sustainable future? Feel free to respond with a simple hashtag, for example, #bikingtowork. Cheers! Thank you!
Andy Vieira
Images from:
Image 1: https://femmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/chiron-2-3200×1600.jpg
Image 2: http://www.frescobolcarioca.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/resize.jpg
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Museu_do_Amanh%C3%A3_em_sua_inaugura%C3%A7%C3%A3o_01.jpg
Image 5: https://museudoamanha.org.br/sites/default/files/Cosmos-1280x800_MdA_ByronPrujansky__1456511497_189.60.197.72.jpg
Image 6: https://museudoamanha.org.br/sites/default/files/Terra_1280x800_MdA-ByronPrujansky__1456511716_189.60.197.72.jpg
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Image 8: https://museudoamanha.org.br/sites/default/files/amanhas.jpg
Image 9: https://museudoamanha.org.br/sites/default/files/1280x800_Nos_ByronPrujansky-MdA.jpg
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