Museum of the Future & recommendations to make it better

Earlier this year we finally checked out Museum of The Future in Dubai. No doubt you’ve already seen it many, or heard about it times… the stunning egg shaped building that’s became an architectural icon in the UAE. It’s the self proclaimed ‘Most beautiful building in the world’. And as designers with a keen interest cutting edge tech, we were keen to see if it lives up to the hype.

| Exactly how cutting edge and innovative the museum really is it?
| Did we walk away in awe and wonder inspired with the future ahead?

Gareth brought his Fujifilm XT5 to capture the experience. This review is light, honest and constructive, based on one family visit. Our thoughts and recommendations come from the following viewpoints:

> Design, tech and brand experience enthusiasts
> Residents of the city
> General common sense
> With a goal to help provide helpful feedback to drive better experience

1 / 5
Reception & Arrival Experience

Overall the arrival experience was a good one. Open, airy and lots of people taking in the beautiful architecture. The queue for the museum entrance was the only real eye sore in the space but it went down fairly quick. There’s a playful spirit in the air with the whale / penguin drone flying overhead and the Boston Dynamics dog Spot, was great to see (as a dog lover).

Recommendation: More curated moments of tech magic that can vary each visit, to drive additional anticipation and reasons to return. An optional connected wrist band to keep digital memories of the museum or interact more, could also elevate the entire experience (but we fully appreciate the amount of planning, design and implementation that could take).

An optional connected wrist band, to keep digital memories of the museum & interact more, could elevate the entire experience and drive revenue & return visits for MOF.

2 / 5
Rising above the Earth

As we entered the theme park-esque lift, the room went dark, the doors closed and we were introduced to the Museum’s  ‘AI guide’, presented as a fairly pleasant but ultimately bland Emirati lady. This was a missed opportunity…

Recommendation: A more fun, mascot style character could have been used (and later sold as merchandise), imagine being presented as ‘this character was designed by Pixar’. AstroBot is a great example. Or keeping it more mature, some bio tech augmented onto the lady or a futuristic fashion choice would have been more interesting.

Next, as we rose up the space elevator, it was not unlike the opening scene of sci-fi movie Ad Astra. And being a sci-fi, it was a good time and conveyed well enough to give everyone a feeling it could be real in the not too distant future. The solar panels on the moon and the space station, was a cool look into the near future, and no doubt one that humans will eventually get to experience for real.

Enrolling as a space station employee and choosing a role was fun. If developed further, it could connect to education, related workshops that kids and adults could attend and learn about global topics and challenges. (Linked to Dubai Future Foundation studies).

We passed a series of digital windows, that predicted what the future of Downtown Dubai. Featuring stunning architecture, greenery and flying vehicles. It was very well done and believable considering the speed of change and ambition of the city. (30 years from now perhaps?).

Recommendation: Further develop this content. Make it more detailed, interactive and alive. Perhaps with digital viewport to zoom in closer to find out more about specific features, or even small moments of human interaction in the future (such as zooming into a restaurant or office scene).

3 / 5
Ecology of the Future, Relics of the Past & Plastic Plants

Moving down to the next floor you experience a section around ecology of the future and the impacts of climate change and fire on the world’s forests. The floor to ceiling visuals are interesting and the science being it impactful. But it’s let down by the rather naff plastic plants, sitting in a variety of holes in the walls, not unlike the fake plants you can buy for a fishtank. These really do need to improved and was a warning sign of some of the quality that lay ahead.

The plastic plants in glass windows looked like they were picked up from Daiso. It really impacted the believability of the experience and just looked cheap. #pleasefix

Fake plants aside, one section I did love, and by far my most favourite part of the museum was the collection of organisms in beautifully lit jars. Any entire room filled with them, slowly glowing. More so, a moment of magic as the device I was handed could be tapped on any one of the jars and information on that creature would be provided. It was a dystopian prediction of the future. Humans looking back of all of the that once populated the earth, now just a collection in a dark room.

Recommendation: If a digital wrist band was introduced, this room could be the perfect place for a ‘Gotta catch em all’ Pokemon experience where you could choose one or more creatures as a digital pet, that would be animated and interactive in your growing collection. Giving you further reason to return. This can be expanded further as collectable merchandise, sold as small toys or keyring similar to the popular vinyl toys.

4 / 5
The Future of…. Wellbeing?

This is where a few eye brows started to get raised. An entire floor dedicated to meditation, relaxation and audio vibrations / therapy that didn’t seem to work. People wandering around with confused faces. ‘Why is this in a Museum of the Future?’ ‘What’s the point?’ myself and many others asked. This was indeed a weak concept and far too much of a reach for the majority of the audience.

For context, I’ll be the first to admit meditation isnt really my thing. But this entire idea felt out of place and under developed. More like a fancy entrance in your local spa. Let’s tale a look…

As calm then confusion washed over us… we wondered what this entire floor was all about. There was a tangible vibe in the air amongst visitors… “This section is lame, am I meant to be enjoying this?”

Yes, people sitting on beanbags staring at the ceiling, not really doing much and seeming confused. I’m sure there was more to it than that… but what ever ‘it’ was… we felt most people quickly headed for the stairs in hope of what’s next being better.

Recommendation: It’s difficult to give any substantial advise on this one, as I’m generally confused what the objective is here. If MOF are looking to create a more sensorial experience, my recommendation would be to introduce more audio visual elements, perhaps even explore human relaxation, health and well being related. The future of health is indeed a topic that will dramatically change. When will our personalities / digital twins be ‘saved’ for loved ones to interact with when we are no longer there. This has already been explored in shows like Black Mirror.

5 / 5
The final floor and a half baked store

After the previous level, the final floor of MoF could have ended the experience on a high, but again felt undercooked. We quickly skipped most of it to check out the view from the balcony. Passing through the children’s area (which seemed sparely filled) then the product showroom space which was completely static and lacking in anything that felt truly special. (A closed door electric Audi for example, which in 2024 felt pretty old hat).

Recommendation: More genuinely fun, innovative spaces for kids to play and discover, similar to Oli Oli in Al Quoz, but with a futuristic twist that tied into the space station roles and characters / museum features from the floors above would really round things off well.  Likewise, for the product showroom, more bleeding edge tech & gadgets that you can actually test and even buy, would complete the visiting experience.

You’ve built the space, you’ve got the audience and the potential. But a v2 is very much needed. Go level it up, invest well and it may be one of the best visitor experiences in the world.

Finally, to support some of our photography and give more content inside the building, here’s a popular Museum of the Future video, check it out.

Acid Test Score – 2.5 /5

What we liked:

• The ambition, we appreciate the bravery in building and creating this place
• The potential, to drive conversations of the future in today’s world
• The more playful ideas of the future
• The branding and the architecture
• The future visions of Dubai’s cityscape – more of that please, in more detail

What we didn’t like:

• The lower tiers, especially the wellbeing floor feel like a complete miss.
• The final floor showing cutting edge things feels under stocked and not cutting edge enough.
• The plastic plants – come on… you can do better than that.

Final Thoughts and suggestions:

It’s a testament to Dubai and its leadership to be able to build and invest in such an iconic place. But it’s clear the experience inside is underdeveloped and in much need of a version 2 update. With some of the floors needing a full replacement (or a huge improvement) in our opinion. Our recent visit to Super Nintendo World, Universal Studios in Osaka set the standard which could be applied here. Where every detail, both physical and digital is seamlessly interwoven. A feeling that you’ve stepped into something special and can’t wait to tell everyone.

The Museum of the Future has a fantastic opportunity to link ideas, research, products, education and inspiration via technology and tactile, real world experiences. They’ve built the platform, go make it world class. Right now… there’s a lot more to be done.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the review.
(All photography by Acid Works)