The Phæno Science Center is an interactive

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

center in

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, 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 The Autostadt (German for ''Automobile City'') is a visitor attraction adjacent to the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, with a prime focus on automobiles. The complex was designed by Henn GmbH. It features a museum, feature pavilions ...

. 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

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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 An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel o ...

was held in January 2000 and the prominent architect

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

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

Iseo Lake Lake Iseo or Iseo lake ( ; it, Lago d'Iseo ; lmo, Lach d'Izé, label=Eastern Lombard), also known as Sebino (; la, Sebinus), is the fourth largest lake in Lombardy, Italy, fed by the Oglio River. It is in the north of the country in the Val C ...

. 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

Architekturbüro Mayer-BährleAnsel Associates, Inc.
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New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, 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