El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain



Architect
Santiago Calatrava
Date Built
2000
Location
City of Arts and Sciences
Description
Valencia's Science Museum is one element in the remarkable City of Arts and Sciences designed by Santiuago Calatrava.  This huge skeleton-like structure is 104 metres wide and 241 metres long.  The architect's website explains that, "... Like the grand exhibition pavilions of the past, it is a longitudinal building, created from the modular development of transverse sections that repeat along the length of the site.  Five concrete ‘trees’, organized in a row, branch out to support the connection between roof and facade, on a scale that permits the integration of service cores and elevators. The triangular structures that brace the ends of the building also mark the entrances. The white concrete supporting framework of the south facade is filled with glass; the north facade is a continuous glass-and-steel curtain along the building’s full length."



The website of the City of Arts and Sciences points out that, "....The spectacular building designed by Santiago Calatrava contains over 26,000 square metres of exhibitions on current scientific and technical matters. Full interactivity is one of its special features, the motto of which is “Forbidden not to touch, not to feel, not to think”. The method used by the Museum consists of a huge variety of seasonal exhibitions and scientific activities of all kinds to arouse the visitor’s curiosity on new technologies and scientific advancements, so as to generate a pleasant learning process in which the visitor always takes an active part and decides where he/she would like to go and what he/she would like to know."