El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe,
Valencia, Spain
Architect
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Santiago Calatrava
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Date Built
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2000
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Location
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City of
Arts and Sciences
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Description
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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."
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