Shanghai, China’s cosmic museum is for lack of better words, out of this world. The Shanghai Astronomy Museum is the largest astronomy museum in the world and it’s like going to another universe. Not only space lovers will enjoy this museum—it’s a must-see and it just opened!
Thomas J. Wong of Ennead Architects designed the museum and it opened on July 18, 2021. The entire 420,000-square-foot complex was designed with the cosmos in mind. How cool is that?
Wong has always been curious about the universe, even before he became an architect. “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.
As he told the outlet, the Ennead design team focuses on “the relationship of our concept of time with orbital motion, the continuous motion of our universe, the complexity of that motion as represented by the three-body problem.”
The building is designed without straight lines or right angles, giving it a sense of movement among the static buildings. The main architectural features of the museum are the Oculus, which serves as the sundial, the Sphere, home to the planetarium theater, and the Inverted Dome, a rooftop amphitheater.
