Shanghai Science and Technology Museum
CallisonRTKL design strives to keep pace with rapid development.
CallisonRTKL was awarded the complex task of designing a new science and technology center for the city of Shanghai. Faced with the challenge of embracing the culturally sensitive past and building the future of a rapidly emerging high-tech city, CallisonRTKL made a statement with its design for a civic and educational icon.
The building is marked by a climbing roof structure representing the city’s boundless ascent, and is split between tall, airy exhibit space on one side and enclosed auditoriums on the other. A large glass wall integrates the activity of an outdoor civic plaza seamlessly into the interior spaces, creating the impression of fluid movement. A large, technologically sophisticated elliptical ball located at the entry area combined with a decorative hanging sphere represents an egg and its yolk—an important Chinese symbol. Other traditional materials are used in concert with modern, sustainable materials, symbolically merging the past and present.