‘Museum of the Future’ to be Dubai’s ‘Eiffel Tower’

During a private preview for a number of leading media outlets, the Dubai ‎Government announced a landmark project which is anticipated to be the "Eiffel Tower of Dubai."

Just as Paris’ Eiffel Tower rose out of the city’s own World Expo, the Dubai Government has unveiled plans for the “Museum of the Future” to mark the city’s achievement of hosting the 2020 World Expo.

The plans were unveiled by Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid al-Maktoum on Wednesday.

The museum’s motto “See the future, create the future,” is meant to reflect a new approach to government innovation.

Architect Shaun Killa spoke about the design of the building, explaining the gaping hole at the center of the structure.

“The solid element of the building symbolizes what we know today representing what we know to be the future, and the void represents what we don’t know. So we constantly are looking towards the future and discovering new possibilities,” he told Al Arabiya News.

“The Museum of the Future will be an incubator for ideas and real designs, a driver for innovation and a global destination for inventors and entrepreneurs,” said the vice-president of the UAE at the launch.

For his part, Mohammad al-Gergawi, UAE Cabinet Minister told selected members of the media who attended a special preview that the museum seeks to ‘give hope and a glimpse of what the potential is’ adding that the exhibits will be updated regularly so that the visitor always gets an idea of what to expect in the next 10 years.

The museum is set to open in 2017 and will not operate a free admission policy, rather, it will be managed and sustained through a foundation which is chaired by HH Sheikh Hamdan, Dubai’s Crown Prince.