The Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre is a cultural complex located in Kuwait City, Kuwait owned by the Amiri Diwan. It consists of six main components; The Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Space Museum, Arabic Islamic Science Museum, Fine Arts Centre and the external spaces known as the Public Realm. The Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre is a 18-hectare site making it the world’s largest museum complex.
The museum is named after the late Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah who was the 11th ruler of Kuwait, the first Amir and the founder of modern Kuwait.
The Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre creates a new world class museum district within Kuwait. Together with the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre, the cultural centre is part of the new Kuwait National Cultural District.
The museums present Kuwaiti, Islamic, and Arabic culture and history. They also embrace and showcase the rich diversity of the world’s finest cultural achievements.
Natural History Museum
Making up eight of the galleries across the complex, the Natural History Museum (NHM) covers themes including Prehistoric Life, Ecosystems, The Earth and Environment, Biodiversity, Nature, and Arabian Wildlife and Geography. Each individual museum has its own iconic elements which required multiple specialist teams to be carefully coordinated.
Within the NHM galleries is a South East Asian rain forest with a combination of living trees and plants interspersed with faux, overlooking a 1.4 million liter aquarium stocked with live species. The 6m x 6m concave end retaining panel together with the side viewing panels weigh over 65 tons providing a full underwater panorama of the aquarium.
The Prehistoric Life gallery includes over 30 full size prehistoric creatures both skeletal and full bodied; All fabricated to a highly realistic level of detail, supported by leading paleontologists and National Geographic.
Each museum has a glass clad wing protruding from the end, allowing visitors a glimpse of the exhibits in the evening from the external Public Realm areas. The Prehistoric Life wing includes an impressive 17 meter-long prehistoric whale suspended above four striking displays of giant beasts from the distant past.
Science Museum
The ten diverse galleries that make up the Science Museum take the visitor on a remarkable journey through Transport, Experiments, the Human Mind and Body, Robotics, Natural Defenses and Innovation. One of the highlights is the 20 seat 4D dark ride experience suspended from the mezzanine floor which takes visitors on an adventure inside the human body. The 3D projection accompanied by motion base technology is one of the must-see elements of this museum.
The Transport gallery houses over 200 historical and contemporary vehicles from full scale planes, boats and cars suspended from the roof structure, to full size replicas of the Bluebird and Bloodhound speed record vehicles and the Red Bull Stratos capsule. The technical installation methodology, coordination and structural challenges were significant within this gallery.
At the introduction to the Robotics gallery, visitors are met by a 3 meter-tall animatronic host robot who explains the interactive journey they are about to embark upon. Fully immersive and interactive galleries such as Experiment and Innovate also provided some of the most complex interactivity.
These hands-on experiences needed to meet international standards, meet the school curriculum and in some instances meet culturally sensitive requirements. Prototyped, developed, rigorously tested and installed in just 12 months, each museum, and each gallery had its own stringent development deadline program challenges to overcome.
Space Museum
The Space Museum with four galleries and a 110-seat planetarium creates a futuristic museum exploring topics from the Big Bang to space travel, and our place in the solar system. At the centre, the planetarium was designed and built as part of the exhibition fit-out including the structural development and engineering for it to traverse the ground and mezzanine floors.
Amongst the various space vehicles, communication devices, satellites, space telescopes and planets suspended within the gallery, sits a fully replicated recreation of the International Space Station (ISS) which engulfs the entire gallery. At over 50 meters-long, the ISS creates its own gallery on the mezzanine floor where visitors can gain a sense of living in space. Back on the ground, visitors are invited to drive the Mars Rover and explore the solar system and hidden galaxies.
For younger visitors, the Space Academy gallery provides children with the opportunity to experience first-hand some of the exciting training exercises and tasks carried out by astronauts.
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