Multimedia Art Museum in Dubai
- location
- UAE, Dubai
- design
- 2021
- total area
- 4 500 m²
- architects
- Anton Nadtochiy, Ekaterina Kotlova, Rashid Gilfanov, Anna Alenicheva, Valeria Mukhtarova, Adel Khakimullin
The development of contemporary art is inseparable from experimentation in the field of digital technologies. Classical museums are no longer suited to art objects that make active use of multimedia — such works require fundamentally different types of space. We encountered precisely this challenge while designing a Multimedia Art Museum in one of Dubai’s largest shopping centres.
The project’s principal task was shaped by the orientation of contemporary art towards a mass audience. From this perspective, it was essential to answer the question: what kind of museum is capable of welcoming and engaging visitors of any level of preparation? The answer lies in creating a vivid, memorable image capable of generating a strong emotional response.
Facing one of the shopping centre’s main promenades, where the entrance to the museum is located, visitors are greeted by an installation built on the fusion of architecture and multimedia art. It is formed by several surfaces united into a fluid and complex shape — a hydroid structure in which the external shell flows into the interior and back again, creating an intriguing visual and spatial paradox.
The architectural solution is enhanced by multimedia technologies: various video installations are projected onto the membrane stretched over the abstract architectural composition. The form-generating process is entirely digital: without algorithmic design methods, it would have been extremely difficult to realise.
The entrance installation attracts attention while also offering a preview of the museum’s content: from the very first moments of interaction with the museum, the visitor is given a unique spatial experience that continues into the exhibition spaces.
At the same time, the complex outlines make it possible to organise and articulate the various functional zones more effectively. The installation unites the entrance area, lounge zone, lobby, café and playroom, and draws visitors deeper into the space.
