Museum of the Future
Prime Minister’s Office, UAE / Tellart
Designing the future through immersive storytelling
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Prime Minister of Dubai) exploring ideas around sensory-based learning in Future of Education exhibit
The inaugural Museum of the Future was a radical departure from traditional government policymaking. Through an approach known as “design nonfiction” (a term coined by Tellart) we created an immersive exhibit, which allowed policymakers and stakeholders to experience a range of possible futures.
The first exhibition launched in 2014 and was cast in the year 2025. Exhibits focused on tangible ways to better serve citizens through the design of technology-enabled public services that surpassed the quality standards of consumer services.
“This to us was a super exciting kind of avenue for where speculative design can really make an impact on the world.”
The exhibition was guided by the research of contemporary though leaders— expert in their respective field. During this process scientists, engineers and designers all contributed to workshops facilitated by Tellart, and held in partnership with the Prime Minister’s Office in Dubai, UAE. The project received accolades and awards from multiple organizations for its innovative approach to guiding policy through design.
The Future Cityscape (photo by Tellart)
An expansive view with animated vignettes tells how citizens engage through the city with various government services.
Through an immersive and interactive experience, visitors enter a scenario set in the future. Each exhibit is meant to spark meaningful dialog.
Ultimately the project laid groundwork for a permanent Museum of the Future in Dubai and ideas within these exhibits have directly inspired numerous government initiatives in the UAE.
My role on the project was the Creative Technology Lead. Working with Tellart, I contributed to all aspects of the project, from concept to execution.
Leading the technical design team I collaborated closely with our partners at Fabrica, focusing heavily on designing and prototyping across range of creative technology solutions for bringing all the exhibits to life. I was also responsible for producing the entryway, which reframed the country’s border control as the Ministry of First Impressions.
Emirati citizens walking through the border control exhibit
Travelers from the Middle East face challenges in airports, especially when crossing borders in the West. We designed a generous privacy hallway where each airport traveller is handed warm towel as a welcoming gesture when entering the country.
Based on emerging technologies at the time, we researched how the application of advanced biometric sensing and machine learning could seamlessly detect pathogens from discarded face towels.
Additional security scans were intended remain noninvasive, yet visible to the traveler, in order to transform the airport experience into a more simple process that focuses on dignified human interaction.
Tackling ideas about the future of learning, we explored how students might explore complex topics in STEM, such as biology and genetics through games. Visitors enter a classroom where students design genetically modified plants for simulated hostile environments in the desert. Through a process of experimentation and prototyping, students learn to evaluate what makes a plant successful under different conditions.
A future classroom, where students collaboratively explore plant genetics
The Sand Table was a tangible exhibit that alluded to enhancing learning through playful interaction at primary school level. By manipulating the sand, students explore Earth sciences, seeing visualization of watersheds, ecosystems and climate change, using live projection mapping.
“The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn’t something you await, but rather create.”
A holographic AI provided citizens of the UAE with quick access to information regarding any type of government request, from marriage certificates to fishing licenses. Visitors to museum could interact with the exhibit using voice and touchless gesture.
We considered a number of scenarios around the future of healthcare. Using state of the art monitoring services, personal hygienic systems report on real-time analysis of quantified health information. For instance, the automatic distribution of supplemental vitamins and nutrients that get supplied through a home’s water system based on hyper-personalized needs. The concept forecasts a seamless and ubiquitous integration of holistic approaches that are both preventative and curative.
The ubiquity of holistic health practices extend into everyday objects. For example, smart cutlery that analyses food for bacterial matter and toothbrushes that release droves of nanobots into the system for fighting off internal pathogens.
Over 80 designers and craftspeople came together to produce the exhibition. During its course, I became totally immersed in the process, temporarily relocating to Treviso, Italy, in order to work directly with our partners at Fabrica.
Making of MOF (video by Fabrica)
No job too small. Our design and technology team was hands on from start to finish, Nothing ever goes perfect, but our willingness to tackle every challenge, gave our audience a seamless experience.
The inaugural exhibition was a testament to how design thinking can lead. Over the course of its development I had the honor to lead creative technology in service of its design, helping to tell a powerful story that directly affected the future direction of a country. I later participated in successive years of development, helping pave the way for the permanent Museum of the Future.
The complete project was designed and developed by Tellart, and supported by an international team of partners including Dan Hill and Fabrica, Institute for the Future, Superflux, Near Future Laboratory, Atelier F and Publicis Live.