The Biggest Astronomy Museum in the World Is Opening in Shanghai — and We Spoke to the Architect-
The design of this cosmic museum is out of this world.
THE FOLLOWING WRITTEN CONTENT BY STEFANIE WALDEK
If you woke up one morning at the brand-new Shanghai Astronomy Museum, you’d be forgiven for thinking you might have somehow traveled across the universe to an alien city, or at the very least, onto the Hollywood set of the latest space flick. But no, this isn’t science fiction, nor is it a soundstage—this is the Earth’s largest astronomy museum, and it’s an otherworldly spectacle.
Designed by Thomas J. Wong of Ennead Architects, the Shanghai Astronomy Museum, opening July 18, is a master lesson in the architecture idiom “form follows function.” Every single part of the 420,000-square-foot complex has been designed with the cosmos in mind, which is made even more impressive by the fact that Wong is not an astronomer or astrophysicist. (He did, however, take an astronomy elective at Cornell University when he was studying architecture.)
“Over the past two decades, I have had a growing interest in the scientific aspects of the natural world, largely stemming from research as a function of architectural commissions,” Wong told Travel +Leisure, noting that Ennead’s work on the Natural History Museum of Utah immersed him in such fields of study as paleontology, biology, and geology, among others.
That curiosity about the universe, however, was founded long before Wong became an architect. “I can remember going to Cape Canaveral as a kid and being awestruck by the Saturn V rocket, loving the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and left speechless by the amazing views of the universe at the time of the Hubble [Space] Telescope launch,” he said. “I’ve never forgotten the first planetarium I went to when I was young and the feeling I had upon leaving when I looked back up at the sky. The complexity and the mystery have always left me wanting to know more.”
Fortunately for Wong, the Shanghai Astronomy Museum project provided him a chance to explore astronomy in a professional context, albeit through the lens of an architect’s eye rather than a telescope. The Ennead team immersed themselves in the world of astronomy, researching complex scientific concepts and interviewing experts in order to more fully understand the museum’s mission. Read more from Travel and Leisure.
