Electrosonic was recently awarded the Commercial Integrator 2019 Best Museum Project for its extensive work on the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (SAASCC). Electrosonic received the recognition during the InfoComm 2019 award presentation.
SAASCC is located on a 13-hectare site in the Al-Sha’ab district of Kuwait City. The cultural center includes the Natural History Museum, Science and Technology Museum, Arabic Islamic Science Museum and Space Museum.
Taking 5 years to complete and designed by Cultural Innovations, the comprehensive museum complex houses 23 galleries in over 22,000 square meters. A truly immersive experience filled with engagement opportunities, SAASCC sports over 800 exhibits and experiences including a 4D theater adventure inside the human body and a 1-million-liter aquarium.
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum 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.
This museum includes a South East Asian rain forest with a combination of living trees and plants interspersed with faux, overlooking a massive aquarium stocked with live species.
The prehistoric life gallery includes over 30 full size prehistoric creatures both skeletal and full bodied with a highly realistic level of detail. The gallery also includes a 17-meter-long prehistoric whale suspended above four striking displays of giant beasts from the distant past.
Science Museum
The Science Museum takes visitors on a remarkable journey through transportion, experiments, the human 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.
It also houses over 200 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.
Fully immersive and interactive galleries such as Experiment and Innovate also provided some of the most complex interactivity.
Space Museum
With four galleries and a 110-seat planetarium, the Space Museum explores topics ranging from the Big Bang to space travel. 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). The Space Museum explores both the historic achievements of the various space agencies around the world and provides a thought-provoking glimpse of what the future may hold.
Arabic Islamic Science Museum
This museum is dedicated to the influences of Arabic scholars and inventors over history, and explores how and why Islamic civilization, and particularly the arts and sciences, flourished through the 8th to the 14th century. The space is more traditional and evokes contemplation.
Suspended above a map of the Middle East region hang five scale models of some of the most iconic mosques across the world highlighting their unique architecture. Visitors can get a close-up view of some of the world’s most ornate and influential mosques and see their intricate detail.
Visitors can explore the wonders of Arabic influences on today’s modern world, key inventions such as the camera obscura and Al-Jazari clocks can be discovered in the interactive library and multi touch displays allow the visitor to identify key inventions, how they have developed and still play a part in today’s society.
Firsthand accounts of influential inventors, scholars and explorers such as Abbas Ibn Firnas and Ibn Battuta, their trade routes, explorations and legacies are followed within the museum. Mixed media is used to engage all visitors leaving them with a sense of pride and ambition.
Photo Credits: @ David Copeman Photography
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