Shanghai Planetarium - World's Largest Astronomy Museum by Ennead Architects

1. “In creating this building, we wanted to create a place where the mission of the institution is fully combined with modern architecture, which itself teaches and finds form in some of the fundamental principles that shape our universe,” notes Thomas J. Wong, designer. partner of Ennead Architects. “The big idea behind the Shanghai Astronomy Museum was to bring the visceral feel of the subject to the design and convey it even before you enter the building. And at the end of your visit comes the climax right with the sky framed and supported by the architecture.”

2. With an area of 39,000 square meters, the New Astronomy Branch of the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology is the world's largest museum dedicated exclusively to the study of astronomy. Through scale, form and control of light, the building raises awareness of our fundamental connection to the Sun and the Earth's orbital motion. Enneades drew on the classic "three-body problem" in physics for his design, drawing attention to the intricate choreography created by the gravitational pull of many bodies within solar systems.

3. The museum's façade is adorned with sinuous architectural ribbons, and its shell traces a series of arcuate paths that are markedly affected by gravitational pull: the heart of the central atrium, the momentum of the entrance, and the planetarium-like sphere that encloses the planetarium theatre. The museum and each of the three main architectural components that define the design - the oculus, the inverted dome and the sphere - act as working astronomical instruments, tracking the sun, moon and stars.

4. Suspended above the museum's main entrance, the oculus shows the passage of time by tracking a circle of sunlight on the ground that crosses the entrance plaza and reflects the pool. At noon during the summer solstice, a full circle is formed, which coincides with the round platform on the museum square. Meanwhile, the sphere in which the semi-submerged planetarium theater is located causes the illusion of weightlessness or anti-gravity. Its pure spherical shape refers us to the original forms of our universe and, like the orientation we get from our position in relation to the Sun or Moon, becomes a permanent reference for the visitor. Cut into the plane of the roof of the lower museum wing, it seems to rise above the earth's horizon, gradually emerging when someone goes around the building.

5. Another spatial feature of the Astronomical Museum by Ennead Architects is the inverted dome, a large inverted glass tensile structure that sits atop the building's central atrium. Situated on the roofline, it allows visitors to occupy the center of the glass plate with an unobstructed view of the sky. The culmination of an exhibition journey, this space reduces the view of the horizon and the surrounding urban context and focuses the visitor on the all-encompassing sky - a true encounter with the universe, completing the simulated experience within. A 720-degree spiral ramp inside the museum and under the inverted dome tracks the orbital flow of visitors through all the museum exhibits and guides the gaze upward towards its summit. We also recommend visiting the 10 largest stadiums in the world.