The Phæno Science Center is an interactive science center in Wolfsburg, Germany, completed in 2005.

The Phæno Science Center

Phæno arose from urban planning by the City of Wolfsburg. In 1998 City officials were developing a plot of vacant, public land immediately adjacent to Wolfsburg's railway station and just south of VW's huge, then-unfinished attraction Autostadt. An art museum was planned for the site, but Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt, then the City's Director for Culture, Sports and Education, knew that such an institution would compete with Wolfsburg's successful Kunst Museum (Art Museum) and needed other options. Guthardt visited Technorama, a science center in

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and became convinced that a science center in Wolfsburg would complement both Autostadt and the Kunst Museum. Preliminary planning began in November 1998, and one year later Joe Ansel, an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n consultant and designer, was approached to handle the exhibitions and other operational aspects of the project. An architectural design competition was held in January 2000 and the prominent architect Zaha Hadid won, in conjunction with structural engineers, Adams Kara Taylor. About five years later, Phæno opened to the public on November 24, 2005 with over 250 interactive exhibits from Ansel Associates, Inc. all enclosed in an astounding concrete structure designed by Zaha Hadid, her German associate, Mayer Bährle architects and Adams Kara Taylor. The architectural design has been described as a "hypnotic work of architecture - the kind of building that utterly transforms our vision of the future." The design won a 2006 RIBA European Award as well as the 2006 Institution of Structural Engineers Award for Arts, Leisure and Entertainment Structures. The building stands on concrete stilts, allowing visitors to the Autostadt to pass through without interfering with the workings of the building. Phæno is connected to the Autostadt by a metal bridge accessed by escalators and stairs either side. The underside of Phæno and the "stilts" are illuminated. Dr. Guthardt is now Phæno's first Executive Director. Phæno has enjoyed high attendance and broad public acceptance since its grand opening. The Science Center has a theme song, "Phaenomenal," which was written and performed by American singer/songwriter

Amanda Somerville Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands. Biography Personal life Somerville was ...

for the opening. The Phæno was included on a list of the 7 wonders of the Modern World (objects built since 2000) by '' The Financialist.''

Movie appearances

The Phaeno appears in the movie '' The International'' as headquarters of an Italian weapons company - digitally inserted in front to a cliff at the

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. The Phaeno also appears in the German

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as ...

B-Movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

''Helden – Wenn dein Land dich braucht'' as a

large hadron collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

References

External links

*
Zaha Hadid ArchitectsFinding aid for the Zaha Hadid Architects Phaeno Science Centre project records
Canadian Centre for Architecture
Architekturbüro Mayer-BährleAnsel Associates, Inc.
- New York Times, November 28, 2005 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101111023002/http://www.transform-mag.com/permalink/architecture/phaeno_zaha_hadid Phaeno Science Center by transform {{Authority control Zaha Hadid buildings Science museums in Germany Museums in Lower Saxony Buildings and structures completed in 2005 Postmodern architecture Modernist architecture in Germany Event venues established in 2005 Buildings and structures in Wolfsburg Science centers Neo-futurism architecture

The Phæno Science Center

Movie appearances

References

Further reading

External links