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Exterior view
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Interior view
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Interior view
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Exterior view
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Site plan
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Ground floor plan
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General plan
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Main section
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South elevation
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North elevation
Phæno Science Centre
Zaha Hadid Architects. Wolfsburg, Germany
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Name of work in English
Phæno Science Centre
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Name of work in original language
Phæno Science Centre
Prize year
EUmies Awards 2007
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Work Location
Wolfsburg, Germany
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Studio
Zaha Hadid Architects
EUmies Awards 2007 Architecture finalists
Collaborators
Design: Christos Passas, Zaha Hadid Architects; Project architect: Christos Passas, Zaha Hadid Architects; Others: Sara Klomps, Zaha Hadid Architects (Assistant Project Architect), Gernot Finselbach, Zaha Hadid Architects, Helmut Kinzler, Zaha Hadid Architects, David Salazar, Zaha Hadid Architects, Christos Passas, Zaha Hadid Architects, Westermann, Zaha Hadid Architects Janne, Dopheide, Zaha Hadid Architects Chris, Lau, Zaha Hadid Architects Stanley, Eddie Can, Zaha Hadid Architects, Yoash Oster, Zaha Hadid Architects, Jan Hubener, Zaha Hadid Architects, Caroline Voet, Zaha Hadid Architects, Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid Architects, Silvia Forlati, Zaha Hadid Architects, Guenter Barczik, Zaha Hadid Architects, Lida Charsouli, Zaha Hadid Architects, Marcus Liermann, Kenneth Bostock, Zaha Hadid Architects, Enrico Kleinke, Zaha Hadid Architects, Constanze Stinnes, Zaha Hadid Architects, Liam Young, Zaha Hadid Architects, Chris Dopheide, Zaha Hadid Architects, Barbara Kuit, Zaha Hadid Architects, Niki Neerpasch, Zaha Hadid Architects, Markus Dochantschi, Zaha Hadid Architects; Project architect: Rene Keuter, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Tim Oldenburg, Mayer Baehrle Architects; Others: Sylvia Chiarappa, Mayer Baehrle Architects (Project Team), Stefan Hoppe, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Andreas Gaiser, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Roman Bockemuhl, Mayer Baehrle, Architects, Annette Finke, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Stefanie Lippardt, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Marcus Liermann, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Jens Hecht, Mayer Baehrle Architects, Christoph Volkmar, Mayer Baehrle Architects; Structural engineering: Adams Kara Taylor, Tokarz Freirichs Leipold; Others: NE K (Services Engineers), Hanscomb GmbH; Lighting: Fahlke & Dettmer, Office for Visual Interaction
Program
Culture
Completion
2005
Located on a special site, the Phæno Science Centre constitutes both the endpoint of a chain of important cultural buildings and a connecting link to the north bank of Volkswagen's Autostadt. Multiple threads of pedestrian and vehicular movement are pulled through the site both on an artificial ground landscape and inside the building, effectively composing a movementpaths interface. The building is structured to maintain a considerable degree of transparency and porosity on the ground, since the main volume of the exhibitionscape is raised, covering an outdoor public plaza with commercial and cultural functions residing in the structural concrete cones. An artificial craterlike landscape is developed inside the open exhibition space, while protruding volumes accommodate other functions of the centre. A glazed public 'wormhole' extension of the existing bridge flows through the building, allowing views of and from the exhibition space. It liberates the area beneath as a new urban space in the form of a covered artificial landscape with gently undulating hills and valleys. Its interior features an architectural adventure playground with 250 experimental stations on fascinating themes from the world of science and technology. The avantgarde architectural design entailed a constructional realisation hitherto unattainable in conventional terms of supports, girders and roofing, calling for 'of a piece' sculptural moulding. In contrast to the standard method of flat formwork building with concrete, Phæno is distinguished by the predominant use of individually fabricated formwork elements and castinsitu concrete. Concrete formwork elements were needed, sufficient to cover nine football fields, reinforced with iron as heavy as 5,000 small cars.