Case Study : Phaeno Science Center

designed by Zaha Hadid

Figure 1: Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany

Wolfsburg, Germany



PREFACE

Buildings embody cultural knowledge. They are testament to the

will and forces that affect their conception, realization, use and
experience. They bear cultural and professional significance
and possess within them and their constituent components, im-
portant lessons for anyone wanting to discover what a work of
architecture is in its larger context, what brought it about, and
how it contributes. As Peter Parsons points out, “their forms
and spaces are invested with traces of habitation and beliefs
through the employment of materials wrought by craft and tech-
nology.” They are manifestos of habituated practice and pro-
gressive intentions, and range in their influence from reinforcing
obsolete patterns and meanings at one extreme, to innovating
and provoking yet unconsidered ones, at the other.

The Rensselaer Case Studies project examines contemporary

works of architects in relation to what influenced them, and
seeks to expose innovations in thinking, technique and tech-
nology that contribute to architectural knowledge, scholarship
and progress in contemporary practice. The project is designed
to reveal the technological and cultural knowledge embedded
within each selected project through questioning and analysis,
probed through the dis- and re-assembly of drawing and model-
ing to discover the larger significance of the artifact, and how it
came to be.

Rensselaer Case Studies Project

Mark Mistur, AIA

Associate Professor

Emaan Farhoud
Course Assistant

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

School of Architecture
Troy, New York 2006


Henry Albin, Jenny Joe, Jay Young
Professor Mark Mistur
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Fall 2006


 Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. Practice
Architect
Philosophy
Major Works

2. Context
Geographical
Cultural
Historical

3. Technology
Structure + Building System
Materials + Enclosures

4. Program and Performance

5. Innovations and Influence

6. Bibliography



Project Description :

Figure 1.1: Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany

The Phaeno Science Center (Figure
1.1) designed by Zaha Hadid is
an unique building especially for
Germany. The dynamicism of the
form and structure keeps the visitors
aware of the architecture.
The Phaeno Science Center is lo-
cated in a special site in Wolfsburg,
acting as a link between the two
sides of the city, which is separated
by a canal. One side is the histori-
cal civic buildings and the other side
is the new Volkswagen Autostadt
which is the main tourist attraction
within Wolfsburg.
open plaza spaces below the build-
ing. These axial openings are also
creates visual movement under and
past the building which dissolves
the scale of the building,
Even inside the building, in the
exhibition spaces, the surface of the
ground plan is one massive con-
tinuous surface that folds over and
under itself creating an enclosed
space. The cones do not appear to
penetrate the planes but the two are
merged together by the rounding of
the edges to emphasis this continu-
ity theme.

The building’s form is designed to

be continuous. Th site itself is a roll-
ing artificial landscape that merges
into the cones, where Zaha contin-
ues to play with the idea of the “ur-
ban carpet” by extending it into the
surface of the building. The base of
the building are its large cones that
lifts the monumental building above
grade. These cones are separated
by axial penetrations that creates


Part 1. Practice
Architect
Zaha Hadid is the most well known
female architect of our time. She
was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq.
Her father worked as an Industrial-
ist and was a leading politician fol-
lowing the British mandate in 1958
when Iraq attempted to create a
democracy. It was a very progres-
sive time in Iraq, where tolerance
was much more common than in
recent years. Hadid, a Sunni Mus-
lim, went to a convent for schooling,
where there was not just diversity in
the students; Sunni Muslim, Shiite
Muslim, Jewish, and Christian girls,
but the nuns had diverse nationali-
ties as well (Icon, June 2003).
tures that had once dominated the
practice.
Upon being awarded the Diploma
Prize in 1977, Hadid was asked
to Join Rem Koolhaas and Elia
Zenghelis at a new firm they had
recently founded called Office of
Metropolitan Architecture, or OMA.
At this same time, she also taught
with Koolhaas and Zenghelis at the
Architectural Association until 1987.
After only three years with OMA,
Hadid left the firm and went out on
her own. During the next several
years, she taught at a variety of
schools, held several exhibits of her
work, and won a few Competitions,
such as the Peak in Hong Kong,
though her design was never built.
Her painting was a large part of
her work (Figures 1.2 and 1.3),
and unfortunately it also was fairly
often misunderstood, which left
few people who took her work
seriously at that time. During her
time in school, she was inspired by
Russian Constructivists, such as
Malevich, which began her down
her own path to her style of painting
and its importance in her architec-
tural work. Like le Corbusier, but
perhaps with a more direct cor-
relation, Hadid uses her paintings
as explorations and intentions of
her building and its connection to
its surroundings. Before comput-
ers became common architectural
tools, and there were no digital
3d modelers really out there, her
artwork was one of the few ways to
explore a building in 3 dimensions,
the “Three-dimensionality” of it, not
simply plan and section. (Architec-
tural Design, 73)
After the Peak Competition, Zaha

After getting her undergraduate de-

gree in Mathematics at the Ameri-
can University of Beirut, Hadid
traveled to London and studied at
the Architectural Association under
teachers such as Rem Koolhaas,
Elia Zenghelis, Daniel Libeskind
and Bernard Tschumi. It was a time
of near architectural upheaval as
the concepts which had once rigidly
defined architecture were being
unwoven by a new era of architect.
This atmosphere deeply influenced
Zaha’s approach to architecture
Figure 1.2: Painting of The Peak, Hong Kong
and moving away from the stric-



Figure 1.3: Painting of Contemporary Art Center, Cinncinnati
began her own firm, with around 15
people. In recent years, because
of the demand that has grown for
her work, that number has swelled
to 50 or 60 people. Many of those
are Interns or young architects.
Hadid is known to have a chaotic
personality when it comes to her
employee; getting very emotional
over small things and actually firing
people, only to call them up within a
day and offer them their jobs again.
Her treatment of her staff has been
considered harsh by some. She
often criticizes the lack of drawing
ability in newer architects, specifi-
cally being an issue as her paint-
ings (which are not done solely by
her, but with many others helping)
as they are such a large part of her
work. Her office is currently being
housed in a school building which
they are quickly growing out of.
(Icon, June 2003)
Her breakthrough into architecture
began with the Vitra Fire Station in
Germany in 1993. It was her first
major built project. In 1994 she
won a competition for the Cardiff
Bay Opera House in Wales. Con-
troversy soon followed however,
and amid accusations of prejudice,
the project was cancelled and a
Rugby Stadium was elected to be
built instead. Despite this setback,
Hadid continued forward and in
1998, she won the competition for
the Rosenthal Centre of Contem-
porary Art in Cincinnati, which is
considered one of her greatest
buildings. In 1999 she won a com-
petition for a Ski Jump in Innsbruck
Austria, and in 2000 she won the
competition for the Wolfsburg Sci-
ence Center in Germany. The fol-

lowing year saw the completion of
her Hoenheim Tram station and car
park in Strasbourg France and the
Ski Jump in Austria was completed
in 2002. That same year she won
a competition for the BMW Central
Plant in Germany. The Rosenthal
Arts Centre opened in 2003, and in
2005 both the BMW Central Plant
in Leipzig and The Phaeno Science
Centre of Wolfsburg, Germany
were completed (Figure 1.4).
Philosophy
For Hadid, It is important to have
a connection between education
and professions. She feels that
education does have a major im-
pact in the architectural scene, not
immediately, but in a couple years
because it is where one learns to
create ideas. She sees that the
ideas that they had as students and
the designs they do were usually
are more societally challenging at
that time, but they will come to use
during one’s profession when the
society becomes more accepting.
Hadid believes that it is important
to invest in education for this very
reason. At her office, the focus of
her work is to create ideas. The
reason for this thinking is because
of her experience from her time at
the Architectural Association where
their program pushes the edge on
designs of new styles of programs,
material, and structure. At the
AA, Hadid could concentrate more
about design and ideas because
it was mainly about learning and
Figure 1.4: Timeline of Zaha Hadid’s Education and Major Works
developing. Hadid wasn’t worried
if her buildings she designed there
would be translated into a real
building. But even now in her own
firm, she isn’t worried about if the
building could be built, their main
focal point is to develop ideas.

The process of designing in her

office is not always the same. It
was once done through sketch-
ing but now “the process has
changed because of digitization.
But either by hand or by computer,
sketching, modeling, and plan-
ning were all done simultaneously
where they work back and forth
between the different methods of
their design process. With more
advanced technologies of comput-
ers, one can output faster rather
than drawing multiple sketches of
different designs or perspectives.
Also computers help advance the
development of manufacturing and
research of new things. But she
believes the downside of computers
is that there is a less of an under-
standing of how people view the
project and there is a lost of feeling.

“People had lost faith in modern

ideas,” Hadid has stated. At the be-
ginning, her general idea of design
was to challenge the conventional
designs of architecture. Her explo-
ration and expansion of modern-
ism was rough in the beginning
because it was hard for people to
understand her designs because
the way she displayed them was
not like a presentation, but ideas.
At the beginning, they started to do
learn how to draw, how to do pro-

10

Figure 1.5: Zaha Hadid
jections, how to do presentations,
and how to do models mainly as
research. The way she explored
modern design were through
drawings, painting, and modeling,
displaying distortion and projec-
tion. When modeling, they study
space and transparencies but then
it started to influence on the real
design of the work they developed.
Hadid has changed the architec-
tural scene with her extremely mod-
ernist designs. Since the beginning
of her works, her designs create
new architectural feeling, visually
and experientially. Even though
she lacked support of her style,
she consistently pressured society
with many of her competition. Even
though she had won competitions,
because the judges appreciated
her enthusiasm of her contempo-
rary style, many of the designs
were not built because society
rejected them. But Hadid kept of
designing in the same way, pushing
society into acceptance of change
which eventually sparked other
architects who were always afraid
to be the pioneer. Another way that
she has changed architecture is
at its roots; she made institutions
think about how they should teach
students architecture, from produc-
tion to design, from “modernism” to
post-modernism.
Zaha Hadid stated, “Architecture,
in a good way, can restructure
society.” She believes that one
can redesign society in a positive
way through architecture by how it
affects people based on the design.
Many of her buildings are seen as
defying gravity. But conceptually,
her designs attempts to defy rule of
typical traditional architecture, try-
ing to create new styles of space,
form, and structure away from the
ordinary.
She has said that for her work, “it
is important that it is very recogniz-
able,” and “it is very important to
always challenge the topic.” Zaha
tries to reinvent the concepts of
general designs. She felt that there
was an alternative to conservative
designs, typical designs, mass pro-
duction, etc. She wanted to change
the typology rather than repeating
designs and make each building
different because since the site is
different, the design should be too.
She wanted to make her designs
unique, creating new formal lan-
guages and how people experi-
ence and move through it which is
done through spatial organization.
Hadid’s designs are influenced by
the context and urban context of
how it relates through connections
11
and organization of the programs.
She pushes context, programming,
landscaping and structure past
beyond modernism.
To Hadid, the context is an impor-
tant part of design and one can
interpret context in different ways.
One can do more than designing
a building as an object on the site,
but design it as a field and actually
reflect back influences and feeling
back into the context. By designing
as a field within the context, “the
field implied you reorganized the
whole context.”
Through her projections, drawings,
and paintings, she tests out how
buildings are orientated and what
experiences are invoked. They
mostly display ideas perceiving
space, movement, perspectival
space; all these are perceptions of
the ideas of the mind. The designs
of spaces of her work usually have
concepts of distortion, deforma-
tion, narrowness, expansion, and
compression of space. She says
that, “public buildings are canvases
to try out these ideas.”
Most of her projects are public
buildings; Hadid believes that in
public designs, there is freedom
of openness. In her designs, she
creates relationships between the
program and the public where the
public spaces become an entity of
a building. She values topography
and landscape, where her buildings
are less static and structured. By
doing this, a building is seen as
a landscape where is the spatial
experience is ambiguous and not
linear.

Hadid’s designs aren’t centered

solely around topographies and
landscaping but it is taken account
of at the same time when designing
the rest of a building like structure
and program to truly express the
idea of landscaping. Through
landscaping, she attempts to create
multiple public spaces connecting
to the context and to the different
layers of spaces of the building.

Even her ideas of structure are

involved in landscaping to create
large open public spaces and non-
repetition opposing mass-produc-
tion. The structure is a major part
of the design and is not hidden.
It accentuates the formalism of
spatial experiences by creating
feelings, like openness or light-
ness. One inhabits the structure
and there is no boundary between
structure and the skin. (Planet
Architecture, 2003)

12
Major Works
Vitra Fire Station
Weil Am Rhein, Germany,
1990-94
The Vitra Fire Station (Figure 1.6)
in Weil Am Rhein, Germany was a
project to build a fire station on the
north-east section of the Vitra fur-
niture factory complex. Programs
in this project includes a boundary
wall, bicycle shed and other minor
programs.
The site has the large factory build-
ings while the project is only on a
small area in it. Zaha Hadid saw
the site as a zone within the indus-
trial site which is 500 meters long.
She designed the fire station at the
edge of this zone where it trans-
forms into a landscape representing
a piece of furniture in a room, in
extremely large scale.
The main design is a series of
layering of screen walls where each
space intersects the walls of the in-
13
dustrial building located where pro-
gram was needed. These punctures
are orientated in the movement of
the fire engines which are perpen-
dicular to the wall. This design al-
lows an interesting view and scene
to people walking through and next
to the building where it expresses
motion of readiness. The form
represents the typical actions of fire
station during needed time, ready
and alert to calls of duties.
Figure 1.6: Vitra Fire Station
LFone
Weil am Rhein, Germany,
1997-1999

Zaha Hadid designed the LFone

(Figures 1.7-1.12) in Weil am Rhein,
Germany as an integrated archi-
tectural building. Its program is
designed for events and exhibitions,
providing space for both while its
architecture formally is merged with
the land around it.

Its formal concept was a to cre- Figure 1.7: LFone

ate an architectural design that

topographically connects with the
ground with fluid geometry using a
system of paths that wind through
and around the building.

Many different spaces are created

from these paths, creating intersec-
tions where specific public programs
are placed like the exhibition, cafe,
etc.

There is also a center for environ-

mental research which is partly Figure 1.8: LFone

underground which connects to the

but still being open to the exhibition
hall and other public spaces.

Figure 1.9: LFone

14
 Figure 1.10: LFone Interior

Figure 1.11: Painting of LFone Figure 1.12: Painting of LFone

15
Car Park and Terminus
Hoenheim-Nord
Strasbourg, France, 1999-
2001

The Car Park and Terminus in

Hoenheim-Nord Strasbourg
(Figures 1.13-1.17), France was
designed as a tramstation and car
park for a tram line.

The architectural design concept

is overlapping fields and lines of
spaces that weave together creat-
ing a total whole. The system of
fields represent movements of cars,
trams, and people where the form is
inter-merged with the surrounding
landscape and context of the site. Figure 1.13: Hoenheim-Nord Terminus

The main importance is to create

a well organized circulation space
that link the different use programs
together which was done by using
lights in the floor, furniture, and ciel-
ing from openings.

The architectural design is created

to become a link between a to-be
planned train station to be built in
the north and the new tram station.

Figure 1.14: Hoenheim-Nord Terminus

16
Figure 1.15: Renderings of Hoenheim-Nord
Terminus

Figure 1.16: Hoenheim-Nord Terminus

Figure 1.17: Aerial view of Hoenheim-Nord Terminus

17
Bergisel Ski Jump
Innsbruck, Austria, 1999-
2002

Zaha Hadid designed the Bergisel

Ski Jump (Figures 1.18-1.19) as a
part of the refurbish project of the
Olymic Arena in Innsbruck, Austria.
This ski jump replaced a older ski
jump which didnt meet international
standards anymore so it needed to
be redesigned.
Figure 1.18: Bergisel Ski Jump

This ski jump became a large land-

mark in Innsbruck due to its special
programmic design which holds
sports facilities and public spaces
like cafes.

Its formal shape is special where

Zaha Hadid intergrated the shape
of the ski jump and the slope of the
mountain into the buiding. Materi-
alistically, there is also a connection
between the buiding and the ramp
where the ramp and the cafe are of
structural steel.

18
Figure 1.18: Renderings and drawings of the Bergisel Ski Jump

19
Rosenthal Center for Con-
temporary Art
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA,
1999-2003

The Rosenthal Center for Con-

temporary Art (Figures 1.20-1.24)
required program spaces for
an education facility, offices, art
preparation areas, a museum store,
a performance theater, and public
spaces.

The lobby is leveled with the

sidewalk where there is a connec-
tion with the outside and the inside
from the material used, the glass
glazing and the concrete continutiy
of the sidewalk and the interior floor.
There is a sense of movement for
the people entering the building
because of the concrete connection
which also pulls them vertically due
to the continuous rolling surface of
the ground to the wall where the
Figure 1.20: Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art
vertical circulation is located to the
exhibition spaces which Zaha Hadid
calls the “Urban Carpet.” This car-
pet is also the main concept of the
structural system in the building.

The exhibition spaces are of differ-

ent sizes of cubes to accommodate
different exhibits of contemporary
art. Each space is a solid and void
where the space within could be
altered to allow flexibility in needed
space and arangement of artworks.

(El Corquis, 166-173).

20
Figure 1.21: Rendering of the Rosenthal Center Figure 1.22: Painting of Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art

Figure 1.23: Painting of Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art

Figure 1.24: Studies of Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art

21
Central Building - BMW
Plant
Leipzig, Germany, 2002-
2005

Zaha Hadid designed the Cen-

tral Building of the BMW Plant in
Leipzig, Germany. This Central
Building is the center of the whole
factory complex where in connects
all the activities and other programs
together where it is all branched out
from this center.

This center creates movement and

circulation of the whole complex
where it accommidates the move-
Figure 1.25: Center Building - BMW Plant
ments of the workers and visitors
and also the cycle of the car factory.

The three main production stages,

body, paint shop, and assembly are
organized around the center. The
movements physically and visually
go through this center, allowing a
connection between different pro-
grams and different people. Zaha
Hadid organized the spaces with a
transition of public to busy.

The facade strategy is to pull the

envelope under the top floor which
is diagonal to the plan. The car
drop off is located at this area where
in goes under the diagonal projec-
tion where the visitors can easily
view.

(Kiser, 1).

22
 Figure 1.26: Center Building - BMW Plant

Figure 1.27: Center Building - BMW Plant

Figure 1.28: Center Building - BMW Plant

23
Part 2. Context
Wolfsburg, Germany
Wolfsburg is located about 70 km
east of Hannover, in Lower Saxony,
Germany. It is near what was once
the border between West and East
Germany, which were reunitfied in
1990. Germany itself lies in Central
Europe, with the northern end
bordering the North Sea. While
compartivelly to the United States,
it lies northward, past the Canadian
border, its climate is temperate,
with neither very hot nor very cold
parts of the year.
Wolfsburg, which is located in
Northern Germany, has a climate
where rainfall occurs year round.
The weather is fairly vaired, and
winds are primarily westerly.
24
Figure 2.1: Symbol of Wolfsburg The official logo of the city
The city of Wolfsburg is most well of the resources, like the location
known for the Volkswagen factory of Lebenstedt. For the first time a
(Figure 2.4). It is the only planned city was planned and founded just
urban development in Germany to give the employees of a gigantic
during 20th century (Figure 2.1). new automobile factory a home”.
Wolfsburg has its origin going Back then the population was 1,100,
back to pre-WWII era. Under Nazi all of whom were related to the
government, the Kraft durch Freude, factory.
translating to “strength through joy”,
which was a state-controlled leisure
program for the masses, began
in 1933. Under the KdF program,
Hitler envisioned a new car, afford-
able for the people. Collaborating
with designer Ferdinand Porsche,
The orginal KdF-wagen became a
propaganda for the national social-
istic motorization campaign (Figure
2.2). In 1938 The city of Wolfsburg
was chosen as the location to house
KdF-wagen facotries. “The location
Figure 2.2: Volkswagen First model of Volkswagen,
1938
of the city was not chosen because
KdF-wagen created a coupon
program so people in the KdF
program could afford a car, it
took 200 coupons to receive one.
However, because of the break-
out of WWII, the factory began to
produce military vehicles such as
jeeps and aircrafts instead, mostly
by forced workers and POWs. The
coupons would not be used and no
one received cars until after the war.
During wartime, the KdF factory was
a primary target of Allied forces and
was bombed. The city was taken by
the Allies and renamed in 1945 to
Wolfsburg. The name was borrowed
from the local castle built in 1300
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Figure 2.4: VW factory, Wolfsburg The city of Wolfsburg and the VW company remains closely associated
with eachother

named “Wolfsburg”. The original

castle has been rebuilt in 1600, and
the new castle still stands today,
(Figure 2.5). After the end of the
war, refugees and people looking
for work flooded to Wolfsburg, the
population in 1945 grew to 19,000
from the original 1,100 in 1938, and
that number grew to 38,000 in 1954,
thus housing remained a critical is-
sue well into the 1950’s. The named
KdF-wagen was changed to Volk-
swagen, meaning “people’s car”,
and the company was turned over
to German government in 1949.

Figure 2.5: Castle of Wolfsburg The castle which Wolfsburg was named after. First build in 1300’s and
rebuilt in the 1600’s

25
During the early Iron Curtain Era,
Wolfsburg tried to create a new
cultural and social infrastructure.
“Numerous schools, sports and
playing fields, and swimming pools,
as well as 26 new churches, were
evidence of the enormous efforts
made in those years (Figure 2.6).
By the early 1960’s, Porsches-
traße, the main street in the city, is
almost entirely lined with buildings”
(Schneider). Financially supported
by the VW company, first cultural
projects were constructed, they
were the Congress Centre building
and the Culture Centre, designed
by Alvar Aalto (Figure 2.9). Even
so, during this Era Wolfsburg
was mostly forgotten, and largely
ignored or bypassed by people. It
was a corridor city in East Germany,
sitting along the main road to Berlin
(Figure 2.8), yet most it received
very few visitors.

Wolfsburg reached a population

peak of 131,000 in 1972. The main
focus since has been to gener-
ate urban life and a city center in
the relatively quite, suburban city
(Figure 2.7). Between the Cultural
Figure 2.8: Map of West and East Germany Wolfsburg was located on the border of West and East Ger-
Center and the theater, a Museum many, and served as a gateway to west Berlin

of Modern Art and Town Hall exten-

sion was built, by architect Peter
Schweger between 1989 – 1994.
“The self-confident body of the
museum constitutes a landmark on
the southern edge of the city axis,
adding a new dimension to the inner
city” (Schneider). With the begin-
ning of globalization in the 90’s,
Wolfsburg also tries to transform
into a “center of global services and
leisure amenities” (Schneider). Its
major step was the partnership of
Volkswagen with the City of Wolfs-
burg, setting up structural changes
to lower unemployment, attract
business start-ups, and focusing on
entertainment and leisure amenities.
Thus the well-being of Wolfsburg
and VW are still closely connected.

26
 Dealing with the lack of culture and
attraction, in 1996, VW built the
Autostadt (Figures 2.10-2.18) in the
north of Wolfsburg, just east of the
factories. “It was the EXPO event in
nearby Hanover that induced Volk-
swagen AG to build the Autostadt”
(Schneider). The Autostadt complex
is a center for entertainment,
auto-history museums persenting
the company’s cars, has become
an extremely successful tourist
attraction, The 750 million dollar
project combines innovative works
from “internationally renowned
Figure 2.9: Wolfsburg Cultural Center, Alvar Aalto, 1962
artists, architects, film makers,
photographers, video and computer
specialists” (Schneider). A new city
bridge was built to connect the city
to the Autostadt on the north side of
the canal, extending the Porsches-
traße (main street) axis beyond its
northern end at the railway station,
“thus lifting the strict division of city
and factory and opening part of the
factory premises permanently to the
public” (Schneider).

Figure 2.10: The Autosdadt

1) Entrance Building. 2) Car Museum. 3) Bently Museum. 4) Lamborghini Museum. 5) Skoda Museum. 6)
Seat Museum. 7) Audi Museum. 8) VW Museum 9) Customer Center . 10) Driving Course. 11) Auto Trume.
12) Ritz-Carlton Hotel. 13) Office. 14) City Bridge. connecting over to Phaeno and downtown Wolfsburg

Figure 2.11: Seat Museum Museum that houses Figure 2.12: Customer Center Visitor Center at Figure 2.13: Entrance Building View of the
Seat models Night
Entrance Building from across the canal

27
Figure 2.14: The VW Museum Museum that houses VW models
Figure 2.16: Auto Trume World’s largest car
vending machine

Figure 2.17: Auto Trume Interior View

Figure 2.15: The Car Museum Nightime view with the VW factory in the background

Figure 2.18: Audi Museum Museum that houses

Audi models

28
In 1998 the original railway station
was converted into an ICE stop
(Figure 2.19), “its forecourt adopted
a new significance: it is now, next to
being the link to the Autostadt, the
essential gate to the City” (Sch-
neider). At first the city planned an
art museum for the site, However
Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt, (Figure
2.20), the City Director of Culture
at the time felt that the institution Figure 2.19: Phaeno Science Center View of Phaeno Science Center’s Northen Facade, from the ICE high-
speed-train tracks.
would compete with the existing Art
Mueseum. It was then that Guthar-
dt visited Technorama, the Swiss
science museum, (figure 2.21). He
was convinced that an innovative
science center in Wolfsburg would
complement both Autostadt and
the existing Kunst Museum, epe-
cially since no such center exists
in Germany at the time. (He is now
the first executive director of the
science center).

An international architecture com- Figure 2.20: Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt

petition was held to design the new First executive director of Phaeno Sicence Center,
and the ex-city-directior for Culture, Sports and
Phaeno Science Center, the project Education.

would have to highlight the railway

as a means of transportation and
would become a significant cultural
component to the city. “Zaha Had-
id’s prizewinning design elevates
the entire exhibition floor to a height
of 6.5 meters, thus generating an
urban area underneath the disc-
shaped building as an interactive
link to the city centre and is going
to mark an urban place at the heart
of an intersection” (Schneider),
see photo of Phaeno - (Figure
2.22). With the Autostadt Complex
and now the new Phaeno Science
Center, Wolfsburg is finally creating Figure 2.21: Technorama The Swiss Science Museum. Model for Phaeno Science Center

cultural identity and transforming

29
the city into a visiting center offering
cutting-edge services and contem-
porary leisure amenities.

The Phaeno Science Center was

built from the urban planning project
by the City of Wolfsburg. City offi-
cials were planning to build a public
attraction building on the land next
to the VW building. They initially
planned to build an art museum
but then decided not to. They were
mostly thinking about money, and
how to make Wolfsburg a bet-
ter town, how to make it a tourist
town, and how to get people to go
to Wolfsburg to feed its economy.
They felt that another art museum in
Figure 2.22: Photo of Phaeno
their town would be less profitable.
They already have an art museum,
the Kunst Museum and felt like
they would be competing with each
other.

The city officials got Ansel Associ-

ates to design and program the
science exhibition as interactive
scientific and artistic works. (See
Figures 2.23-2.25.) A competi-
tion was held for the architectural Figure 2.23: Preliminary sketch of exhibits in Phaeno by Ansel Inc.
design of the building, which Zaha
Hadid had won. Zaha Hadid
worked with Mayer Bahrle archi-
tects, her German associates on
this project. These three worked
together to create the Phaeno
building as a sculpture but still
providing space for the science
artworks.

Figure 2.24: Photo of exhibits in Phaeno.

30
Vision
Figure 2.25: Sketch by Ansel Inc. of an interior view of Phaeno.
With the success of Autostadt in the
north of Wolfsburg, the newly estab-
lished ICE (high-speed train) stop
along the northern canal, and the
existing city axis, an empty piece of
“triangle” shaped, land north of the
BRIDGE
city suddenly became significant
VW FACTORY
(Figure 2.26). “It is now, next to be- WOLF’S CASTLE

AUTOSTADT
ing the link to the Autostadt, the es- CANAL
sential gate to the City” (Schneider). I.C.E. RAIL &
STATION
PHAENO
The idea of integrating the existing VW FACTORY
FUTURE BLDNG
bridge from the Autostadt to the city
WOLF CASTLE
canal bank as a link between the

BRIDGE
CITY BLOCKS
VW and the city was originally pre-
AUTOSTADT

CANAL
GE

sented by architect Petyer Koller in

RID

CANAL
NB
RIA

his original design for the city. Erect-

I.C.E. RAIL WAY
AST

PHAENO
PED

I.C.E. RAIL WAY

ing a building here would create I.C.E. STATION

a central venue for public life. Dr.

Wolfgang Guthardt who was then
the city’s director for culture, sports,
and education, was convinced that CITY CENTER

an innovative science center in

Wolfsburg would complement both
SSE
TRA

Autostadt and the existing Kunst

HES
RSC

Museum, epecially since no such

PO

center exists in Germany at the

CITY OF WOLFSBURG
time. A science center would draw
more tourists to the city in addi-
tion to the AUtostadt, and establish
Figure 2.26: Map of Wolfsburg showing relationship between Phaeno Science Center, the Autostadt,
Wolfsburg as a cultural center. and the City

31
Zaha Hadid was one of the archi-
tects competed for the design of
Phaeno. Her design for the building
is themed around the idea of move-
ment and continuity. The idea is
represented in three aspects of the
building: visual continuity, physical
continuity, and surface continuity.

Hadid’s vision for the building

fulfills the connection between the
Autostadt and the city by elevating
the first floor. But the space is not
completely open as there are 10 Figure 2.27: Ground Floor emphasizing visual and physical connections

stuctural and progammatic cones

interrupting the space. Thus she
creates and idea of spatial translu-
cency, allowing many different views
and sightlines, as well as different
bodily movement (Figures 2.27 and
2.28). The idea of movement is
the obvious design intent in Zaha’s
scheme. The N-S movement from
Autostadt to the city, the E-W move-
ment of the ICE train, the movement
of the main street Porschestrasse,
and other minor movements. Paths
are accented in her desgin, one Figure 2.28: Rendering of Phaeno Science Center emphasizing movement and connection to the site
that runs through the open ground
floor (Figure 2.29), the elongated
ramp in the building, the connection
to the pedastrian bridge right from
the building, and many other minor
ones.

Figure 2.29: Rendering of the Artificial landscape emphasizing movement and continuity

32
 Figure 2.30: Diagram of design of cone shapes

Figure 2.31: Building exgterior showing ground level ceiling morphing into structural cones as well as
exterior wall.

33
Another major theme in Zaha’s
design is the emphasis on surface
continuity. The ceiling of the ground
floor is made from diamond shaped
waffle cone slab instead of square
ones, most of which are filled in, but
some are left hollow with lighting
in them. This surface then wraps
upwards, around a smoothed edge
and transforms into the outer wall,
which has a similar pattern of dia-
mond shaped windows. This logic
is carried out through her design.
The 10 cones grows upwards,
some morphing into floors, others
into ceiling trusses. The actual floor
surfaces too, often continues into
walls (Figure 2.32). In general, the
floor has smooth transitions instead
of stopping or turning abruptly, fol-
Figure 2.32: Exterior view showing similiarity between windows and
lowing a logic of natural landscape, the lights below

(Figure 2.33)

Figure 2.25: Center Building - BMW Plant

Figure 2.33: Floor treated as landscape

34
The winning design for Phaeno
Science Center was awarded in
2000 to Zaha Hadid. The construc-
tion of Phaeno began in March
2001, and the building opened on
November 24th, 2005 (Figures
2.35-2.40) The architects involved
included Zaha Hadid Ltd. & Mayer
Baehrle, and Free Architect Federal Figure 2.36: Construction Photo, December 03 Figure 2.40: Construction Photo, March 05

Employers Association. The master

planning and project management
were carried out by New Ground There were several companies in-
Housing Company, whom was local volved in the interior equipment and
to Wolfsburg. Structural design set-up of the Phaeno Science Cen-
for the building were done by two ter. The advisor for experimentation
companies, one was Adam Kara stations and exhibition was Joe
Taylor from London, and the other Ansel of Ansel Associates Inc. The
was Tokarz Frerichs Leipold from design of programs including labo-
Hannover, whom was also involved ratories, idea forum, science theater
Figure 2.37: Construction Photo, February 04
in the construction of Autostadt. as well as catering trade, shop,
Building Equipment was provided and administration was done by
by NEK Engineering, another local Rust + Sehle from Braunschweig.
campany. Furnishing planning was done by G
+ S + W architecture and Design,
Munich Medium Equipments, and
NEK Engineer Team. The scientific
and didactical consultation were
from Remo Besio, Switzerland, Ken
Gorbey, New Zealand, Heinz Re-
ese, Canada, Sir Richard Gregory,
Figure 2.38: Construction Photo, March 04 England, Colin Johnson, England,
and Burkhard Vettin, Germany.

Figure 2.35: Construction Photo, September 03 Figure 2.39: Construction Photo, June 04

35
 A big challenge for Zaha Hadid
was working with Todd Blair, Mat-
thias Ossmann, and Jorg Zander
from Ansel Associates, where
there were design conflicts of
programmed spaces designed and
what was needed.

Many science artworks were

designed with a required amount of
space due to the size and volume
of these exhibits thus the architec-
ture were altered to accommodate
for the different exhibits. (Figures
Figure 2.41 Interior view of science demonstrations in the exhibition space. 2.41-2.43.) But also as Zaha Hadid
changes her design of the building
for structure and code issues,
Ansel Associates were informed
on the modifications to alter the
exhibition planning of the science
exhibits.

( http://www.anselinc.com)

Figure 2.42 Interior view of science demonstrations in the exhibition space.

Figure 2.43 Interior view of science demonstrations in the exhibition space.

36
37
Part 3. Technology
Structural Systems
The Phaeno Science Center uses
a variety of Structural systems with
only a few different materials. The
majority of the building is built of re-
inforced Self Compacting Concrete,
the primary exceptions being the
Roof Truss system and the sup-
ports for it along the exterior wall.
The 10 cones (Figure 3.1) which run
through the building are the primary
and in fact only real structural sup-
port for the entire building, as all
loads are traced back to these
cones. Each cone is unique, their
irregular shapes are all different
and their interconnection with the
Concourse level manifests in differ-
ent ways.
While all the cones connect with
38
the main concourse level, only 5
of the cones punch through it as
solids and continue up to the Roof.
These 5 cones are the main com-
ponents that the roof truss spans
from and carry most of the load.
The cones and the majority of the
Concrete structure is site cast,
with the exception of some Precast
concrete panels which make up the
titled windows on the west facade.
The Concourse level is a large
spanning waffle slab (Figure 3.4)
which is supported by the concrete
cones themselves and cantiliev-
ers beyond them. The waffle slab
is not a typical waffle system as
the form of the waffles are paral-
lelgrams in shape as opposed to
squares. These waffles are ori-
ented with the building so that the
long vertice is parallel with the long
walls of Phaeno.
The structural cones which hold the
waffle slab curve outward give the
appearance that they change form
into the waffleslab itself and pres-
ent a uniform surface. However, an
imporant reason for this is to pre-
vent punching shear of the waffle
slab around the cones where they
connect (Figure 3.2 and 3.3).
All the structural systems within
Phaeno are complicated or special
in some way and the roof truss is
no exception. The Roof truss is
exposed to the interio and spans
the entire length of Phaeno with no
intermediary supports except for
the 5 Structural cones.
Along the Exterior wall, where the
floor as been cantielievered past
the cone, the Roof Truss is support-
ed by steel columns. These Col-
umns are connected together with
Irregular diagonnal members and in
many places do not act as structure
to the Main concrete Exterior walls.
However where the Prefabricated
Concrete window panels are, the
Figure 3.1: Phaeno Structural Cones
 #/.%
&,//2#/..%#4)/. Figure 3.2: Detail of floor-cone connection

0OLISHED7HITE PAINTED#ONCRETE&INISH

2EINFORCED#ONCRETE3LAB

#ONCRETE&ILL

7AFFLE3LAB

3ELF #OMPACTING#ONCRETE#ONES

2EBAR

Figure 3.3: Connection between waffleslab and Cone

Figure 3.4: Basic waffle slabe shape

39
Columns are connected by paralllel
members which run at the same
slope as the window panels and
support them (Figures 3.5 and 3.6).

The Roof Truss itself is a 2 way

verendeel truss (Figures 3.7-3.9).
While its bays are primarily square
in shape, they do not stay that way
as the Truss itself changes over
the length of the building. The
angles of the intersections become Figure 3.5: Exposed Steel Frame Wall
smaller, creating parallelgram bays,
similiar to the waffleslab but with
far more complicated geometry
(Figures 3.12 and 3.13).

Figure 3.6: Precast Wall Window Panels

Figure 3.7: Roof Truss Grid Layout

40

Figure 3.8: Roof Truss Detail
Not only does the truss change
direction in such a way as to
alter its form, but it also changes
elevation in certain areas, where
it drops down nearly 2 meters at
a 45 degree angle. Generally at
these places the depth of the truss
doubles, but this is not always the
case.
Figure 3.9: Installation of Roof Truss
Where the truss interesects and
connects with the Structural cones,
the botom section of the truss is
cut away, just short of the cones
themselves while the upper part
of the truss rests upon a concrete
ledge that potrudes from the cones
themselves (Figure 3.11).
Figure 3.10: Load Path Diagram of Structural System
Figure 4.11
41
 Figure 4.11
#/.%
2//&#/..%#4)/. Figure 3.11: Connection between Cone and Truss

7ATER PROOFING
)NSULATION
2OOF

3TEEL4RUSS
3ELF #OMPACTING#ONCRETE#ONES

2EBAR

Figure 3.12: Exposed Steel Trusses

Figure 3.13: Truss where bays are no longer rectangular

42
Floor System

The major floor system in Phaeno

Science Center is at the Concourse
level, where exhibition occurs. The
floor is held by concrete waffle slab,
which in turn is held by the struc-
tural cones (Figure 3.14).

There are many layers above the

waffle slab. In fact, between the top
of the structural waffle slab and the
very top of the floor finish, it is about
12 inches. The floor is finished in
a smooth, polished material, that
gives a very uniform and flat feel.
There are finishings of small black
circles on the floor, they are evenly
distributed. The circles are flat and top of this reinforced slab is smooth- Figure 3.14: Interior Floor Finish
aligned with the rest of the floor. ened with cement (Figure 3.21) It is
Underneath these circles are actu- then painted with white paint (Figure
ally ties of electrical wires (FIgures 3.22) and polished. black circles are
3.14 and 3.15) placed to cover the holes left by the
wires (Figure 3.14).
Although visually hidden, heavy
wiring runs above the waffle slab
(Figure 3.16). These wires are tied
into bundles in a regular manner
(Figure 3.17). The bundles are
then distributed evenly across the
floor. a layer of concrete is poured
over, leaving only the bundle heads
above (Figure 3.18).

Then grids of reinforcement bars

are placed on top (Figure 3.19). But
where the wire bundles peak out,
a small cylinder is placed over the
bundle, protecting it (Figure 3.20).
Then another layer of concrete is
poured (Figure 3.21). After the con-
crete sets, the cylinders are taken
out, leaving holes on the floor. The

43
 Figure 3.15: Floor System Section

Figure 3.16: Floor Construction

44
Figure 3.17: Floor Construction

Figure 3.18: Floor Construction

45
 Figure 3.19: Floor Construction

Figure 3.20: Laying down of cylinders to protect wire bundles

46
 Figure 3.21: Second Slab of Concrete being poured

Figure 3.22: Finished Concrete Floor with holes for wiring

47
Self Compacting Concrete
The development of self-compact-
ing concrete was the key to the
construction of the Phaeno Science
Center (Figures 3.23 and 3.24).
Self-compacting concreate was
developed in Japan, Sweden and
France in the 1980s. The reason
for this new technology was to
achieve more durable concrete and
complex structures.
This type of concrete was also used
to compensate for the dependency
of the skills of worker which the
strength of the concrete is highly
Figure 3.23: Structural cone during contstruction
Figure 3.24: Rebar within a cone
48
relied on. Many younger construc-
tion workers lack the experience to
know when the concrete is settled
correctly, vibrated enough, or if the
concrete is flowed evenly through-
out the framework and around the
rebars, etc.
Self-compacting concrete does
not need as much supervision as
regular concrete, since the concrete
does not need to be vibrated due to
its extremely fluidity. It is able to flow
through the frameworks and around
rebar easily and effectivly by its own
compound property.
Process to achieve self-compacting
concrete:
1) limit coarse aggregate content
2) low water-powder ratio
3) use of superplasticizer
By limiting coarse aggregate con-
tent, there is an increase in contact
between the aggregate particles.
The contact between particles
makes the concrete stronger. Also,
having less coarse aggregate will Figure 3.25

decrease the blockage of other par-

ticles allowing them to flow better.

Having a low water to powder ratio

in the concrete mixture and the use
of a superplasticizer makes the
concrete a lot more viscous. This Less coarse aggregate allows particles to
flow between, reducing the blockage that
also prevents the blockage of the occurs.

coarse aggregate because these

coarse particles can flow around in
the paste easily too, rotating and
moving out of the way of the other
particles (Figure 3.25).

This overall reduces the segrega-

tion between aggregate and mortar, Using a superplasticizer allows the coarse
further strengthening the concrete aggregate to move more freely and out of the
way of partcles.
because the particles and sub-
stance in the mix are evenly distrib-
uted. This way makes the concrete
structure strong throughout its form,
rather than having one section
0
stronger than the rest (Figure 3.26). SELF-COMPACTING WATER WATER
NORMAL CONCRETE
(Okamura & Ouchi) CONCRETE
- need vibration or
- uses less coarse packing
20
aggregate
POWDER POWDER
-strength rely on skill
- uses more powder of workers
(plsticizer)
40

- extremely fluid
FINE FINE
AGGREGATE AGGREGATE

- no vibrators needed
60

COARSE COARSE
AGGREGATE 80 AGGREGATE

100 Figure 3.26

49

Figure 3.27: Construction workers tying rebar
Figure 3.29: Waffle Slab Formwork around
Figure 3.28: Rebar and formwork for Cone structural cone
50
Another advantage of self-compact-
ing concrete is that it can reduce
about 50 percent of labor costs
because it requires less workers to
pour the concrete and vibrate the
concrete. Self-compacting concrete
requires less maintanance during
construction because the construc-
tion workers do no have to worry
as much if the concrete has poured
correctly in evenly through the
framework.
Self-compacting concrete can
be poured 80 percent faster than
normal concrete mainly because of
its physical property of being more
fluid. The concrete flows easily
through the framework, between
rebars, around corners, and into
nooks. The amount of work on the
distribution the concrete once it
is poured is significantly reduced.
Workers do not have to vibrate the
concrete which again reduce time
and energy. (Figure 3.27-3.33.)
Because self-compacting concrete
does not need to be vibrated,
it reduces the wear and tear of
frameworks, saving money. This
concrete is great for pre-cast con-
crete companies who use the same
framework many times.
Phaeno Science Center used self-
compacting concrete technology;
without it, such complex, irregular,
and demanding structure could
never be built.

The waffle slab, having obtuse and
acute angles, would be difficult to
pour with normal concrete, resulting
in lessened structural effectiveness,
which would make the long span
impossible.

The concrete cones were designed

with irregular shapes, difficult for
concrete to flow through, espe- Figure 3.30: Framework Construction of Cones
cially since they are also slim and
slanted. There is also a lot of rebar
in the concrete cones (Figure 3.33)
leaving very small spacing between
bars. This structure would be ex-
tremely hard for normal concrete to
flow through, because there is high
pobablity of coarse aggregate get-
ting trapped between rebars, leave
Figure 3.31: Framework Construction of Cones Figure 3.32: Framework Construction of Cones
pockets and bubbles. The cones’
inversely-angled shape would also
be hard to vibrate.

Overall, self-compacting concrete

was the essential technology
that had to be used to make the
building’s form and structure, al-
lowing Zaha’s innovative design to
manifest physically

Figure 3.33: Framework Construction of Cones

51
Part 4. Program and
Performance
The property lot for Phaeno Science
Center is 13,000 m², and the gross
building area is 12,631 m², 9,000
of which are accessible for visitors.
Of that area, 7,000 m² are for active
Overall, the building has 4 levels,
the first is the ground level, an
artificially landscaped piazza, roofed
by Phaeno’s main floor. Here the
whole level is open, providing visual
as well as physical connection, the
programmatic and structural cones
are the only things connecting to
the ground. The second level is
a mezzanine level (Figure 4.8).
The spaces are inside the struc-
tural cones, but still below the main
exhibition level. The third floor, con-
course level, is the main exhibition
space (Figure 4.8) This floor has a
mostly open plan, with exhibitions
Figure 4.1: Main Entrance Escalator

exhibition and public laboratories. through-out. Above selective parts

More specifically, 5,900 m² are for of the concourse floor is another
general open exhibit, there is a bio level of mezzanine (Figure 4.8).
and chemical lab of 54 m², a phys- Programs from the main level flows
ics and engineering lab of 118 m², up into this level.
employing 10 personnel, a science
theater of 560 m², employing 16
personnel, and a idea-forum of 360
m². There are several dining places
in the building, a 149 m² Bistro, a
290 m² self-service restaurant, a
376 m² meeting/catering area, a
32 m² coffee and sandwich bar.
Kitchen, toilet, and storage take up
304 m², and there’s a 382 m² shop.
Other functional areas include 1500
m² of administration/management,
storage, and workshops. The under-
ground parking garage holds 400
bays and has an area of 12,600 m².
Photos of selective area are shown
in Figures 4.1 to 4.5. Diagrams of
program location in plan, section,
and axometric view are shown in
Figures 4.7 to 4.9. Diagrams of pro-
gram percentage shown in Figures
4.10 and 4.11. Figure 4.2 Concourse level from Mezzanine

52
 Figure 4.3: View of Shop in Eastern Corner

Figure 4.4: Underneath Pheano between the cones

Figure 4.5: Coffe Bar beneath Phaeno

53
The building operates from Tuesday
to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. It
costs 11 euro for adults, 7 euro for
young adults, and free for 6 and
under. There are additional group
and family discounts. During the first
year of its opening, the Phaeno Sci-
ence Center received an impressive
180,000 visitors, a large portion of
which were school tours or family
with children, and the Autostadt
also helped the ticket sales. The
exhibition hosts 250 experiments for
display, all of which are scattered on
the concourse and concourse mez-
zanine floors. Figure 4.6: Large numbers of children and young
adults visiting Phaeno

Total Building Area

Figure 4.7: Location of Program within Phaeno
(sq. meter)

9000 Public Space

2000 Private Space

1600 other (circulation/bathroom)

12600 Underground parking garage

25200 TOTAL
Administration

Public and Private Area

Giftshop Laboratory
(sq. meter) Administration

7000 Exhibition Laboratory

Event Space
560 Auditorium Group
Entrance
382 Gift Shop Main Cafe
Entrance
376 Catering Area
Restaurant Entrance
Ramp
290 Restaurant

149 Bistro
Auditorium
32 Coffee Bar Artificial
Landscape Bistro
304 Kitchen

218 Laboratory

1500 Administration Underground

Parking

54
Figure 4.8: Floorplans

Administration
Laboratory

Laboratory

Restaurant Ramp

CONCOURSE MEZZANINE

Laboratory Laboratory
Giftshop

Group Entrance Entrance

Main Entrance

Ramp
Restaurant

CONCOURSE LEVEL

Laboratory
Giftshopv Administration Event Space

Cafe Auditorium
Group Entrance
Main Entrance

Ramp

GROUND LEVEL
Bistro

55
 Exhibition Space Figure 4.9: Sectional Program Diagram

Cone Programmed Public Space

Cone Circulation Space
Artificial Landscape

Parking Garage

Exhi
Shop
Exhibition Exhi

Staff
Stair Room
Shop we
well

Underground Parking Underground Parking Underground Parkin

General Total Building Area

other Underground
(circulation/bathroom) parking garage
6% 50%

Private Space
8%

Public Space
36%

Figure 4.10: Percentage of space use within Phaeno

56
 Exhibition

Exhibition Exhibition Laboratoryy Ramp

S
Service
Bathrooms Elevatorr
Staff Laboratoryy
Room Stair
Event Space
well

king Underground Parking Underground Parking

Public and Private Area (Excluding Underground Parking)

Administration Catering Area

14%
Restaurant
Laboratory
2% Bistro
Kitchen Coffee Bar
3%
Kitchen
Coffee Bar
1%
Exhibition
Exhibition
Bistro 63%
Auditorium
2% Shop
Restaurant Laboratory
3%
Administration
Catering Area
3%
Shop
4%
Auditorium
5%
Figure 4.11: Percentage of programs within Phaeno

57
The Phaeno Science Center is not Figure 4.12: Laboratory within Phaeno
only a museum holding exhibits;
it also has biology labs, chemistry
labs, physics labs, and engineering
labs where scientists work. These
laboratories become exhibits them-
selves where exhibitioners can view
these laboratories through windows
to see the scientists at work (See
figure 3.28 and figure 3.29). This
also follows Zaha Hadid’s concept
of visual continuity where the exhibi-
tion spaces and the laboratories are
connected, but unaccessable to the
general public.

This is program element as part of

the museum exhibit further inspires
museum guests of science. This
also follows Zaha Hadid’s concept
of continuity where the exhibition
spaces and the laboratories are
connected, only visually because
exhibitioners aren’t allowed to enter
the labs due to safety reasons.

This science center also hold a

lot of public program besides the
museum part of it. It has a café,
bistro, and a restaurant. The bistro
Figure 4.13: Laboratory within one of Phaeno’s cones
and café are on the ground floor
on the artificial landscape where
they allow easy access to the public
people where they can get a quick
snack or meal see figure 3.30. A
kitchen separates the bistro and the
restaurant where it is designed to be
used for both food services.

Also there is the large auditorium

on the ground floor where it can be
used independent of the museum.
It is located near the major ramp
that connects the ground floor to the

58
upper floor and to the land across
the canal toward the Autostadt.
This large ramp way is designed
for major circulation among the
auditorium, the museum, the ground
level where people can have access
to the parking area or to public
transportation, and the bridge that
crosses the canal (see figure 3.31
and figure 3.32).

There is a large underground

parking garage under the artificial
landscape where staircases that cut
into the landscape allow access to
the garage.
Figure 4.14: Artificial landscape below Phaeno where Bistro entrance and a Cafe are located.

Figure 4.15: Ramp leading from Phaeno to

bridge to Autostadt

Figure 4.16: Ramp leading from Phaeno to

Bridge, looking South.

59
Structure-Program
Performance

At first glance, the building almost

appears to be hovering above
ground and stretching out in all
direction with massive cantilevers.
But in reality it is held up by the
huge structural cones at its base, it
is difficult to visualize because of
the artificial landscape that merges
and becomes the cones, and the
cones merges and becomes the Figure 4.17: Exterior view of Artificial landscape and its movement into Phaeno

floor plate (Figure 4.17).

The general programmatic strategy such as event space, auditorium,

laid out by Zaha Hadid appears labs, and offices are hidden within
simple but creative. Public the structural cones.
programs and public spaces are
located on the open, ground floor of
the Phaeno Science Center to draw
people into the museum.

Besides the public space and

open ground floor, the structure
of the building also plays a part of
continuing into the main building.
The massive cones that hold up
the building are hollow inside. It is
where the entrance into the building
occur, and secondary programs oc-
cupy, creating a unique experience
of entering the main entrance of the
museum through a space-within-
space. The cones also serve to
seperate public and private interior
space. The general public exhibition
space is the entire open concourse
Figure 4.18: Cone programmed gift shop
floor, while limited access areas

60
 Figure 4.19: Exhibition space

Figure 4.20: Cone programmed Coffee bar

61
Exhibition-Program With large open floor plates and
Performance large spans of the building, the main
concourse level consist of open
space that is flexible for any type or
size of exhibition (Figures 4.21 and
4.22). The curator and exhibition
designer has the freedom and ease
to fit different kinds of exhibitions
into the space in a variety of ways,
and it is also easy to rearrange
them (Figures 4.24-4.29)
span and height which add to the
flexibility of concourse level, as well
visual interest for visitors.
The large cone structures allow the
large open spaces for the programs
to take place in. These cones hold
semi public spaces and also the
entrance to the museum where they
act as the only vertical circulation of
the building.

There is a large steel space frame

above the concourse level, held up
by the cones and by the support in
the exterior walls, which are usually
on the cantilevered concrete slab
that is in turn, still supported by the
cones. The steel frame allows great

Figure 4.21: Concourse level exhibition space

62
 4.22: Concourse level exhibition space Figure 4.23: Exhibit over Main Entrance

Figure 4.24: Exhibit hung from roof truss

Figure 4.25: Full height Exhibit

63
Although Zaha developed a clear
general strategy for dividing public
programs from limited access pro-
grams, and from vertical circulation,
she left the design and layout of the
actual exhibition open to others. Re-
sulting in the lack of co-corporation
between the exhibits with the space
they occupy. There is no correla-
tion between the two; exhibits are Figure 4.26: Interactive Exhibit

scattered throughout the open con-

course floor, with no clear system of
circulation or order. Even the other
program spaces, such as the labo-
ratories, restaurant, and gift shop,
which are in the cones lack strategy
and order. They seems to be placed
randomly into cones, based only on
the need of the amount of space.
These secondary spaces have no
relationship with the ground plane or
the concourse exhibition spaces.
It seems that all the space between
the cones is used as exhibition
space, but the organization of these
spaces are not thought of. There-
Figure 4.27: Exhibit
fore the exhibition space, which one
could argue as the most important
space of the Science Center, actu-
ally emanates secondary impor-
tance, as it feels like space left over
by the cones.

64
 The exhibition space is a total of
7000 square feet out of 9000 square
feet of the total public interior space
of the building. It takes up sixty-five
percent of the building even though
it feels like it takes up more space.
The reason for this is that the other
public spaces, like the café, audi-
torium, etc, are usually not on the
same level as the exhibition space,
they are either above or below the
concourse floor. Even the programs
that are on the concourse level,
like the laboratories, they take up
relatively little space on that level
compared to the exhibition space.

Overall, there is little physical and

visual connection of the exhibition
space and the other spaces from
within the building. Most programs
are encased inside the cones. To
get from the exhibition space to the
auditorium or the café, one would
have to go to the main entrance
cone, go outside and below the
Figure 4.28: Exhibit building to get to those programs.

Figure 4.29: Exhibit

65
Organization Strategy
Performance
The total size of the site including
artificial landscape is about 12600
square meters large. About half of
that area is the actual foot print of
the building.
The public main entrance to the
museum is in the center of the site;
one has to walk at least 60 meters
to get to this entrance, traveling
through the artificial landscape, into
the covered ground floor space,
where lights are spaced in the
irregular waffle slab above. One
may find walking under this massive
monument over whelming, the sight
of concrete above and below, and
the building floating above, is not
66
Figure 4.30: Within Phaeno Parking Garage
attractive for pedestrians, as people
prefered to walk on the parameter
of the site.
Another issue that exist in the open
ground floor is its size. This semi-
underground space is immensely
large. For someone to walk from
one cone to the other, such as going
from the auditorium to the café or
gift shop, would require walking
some distance in a fairly barren and
abandoned place, even though all of
these are suppose to be one build-
ing (Figure 4.31).
In conclusion, the programmatic
strategy is interesting and creative
conceptually, but the building becomes secondary. It is simply a
doesn’t work that well in perfor- large field with focal points, whether
mance. The general strategy does it be the cones or the exhibits.
not apply to the detail layout of the
programs. The design and space
is not to scale with a human being
or the science exhibits. Especially
the open ground floor is large and
overwhelming. Although there is
continuity throughout the building,
there is no directionality of move-
ment; the main concourse space

Figure 4.31: Ground Level looking at underside of Autitorium

67
Part 5. Innovations and
Influences
The Phaeno Science Center is
innovative in design and structure,
where both are dynamic and non-
traditional.
The major design principle of the
building is movement and conti-
nuity. It is present in the visual,
physical, and surface systems. The
idea of Urban Carpet made famous
by the Contemporary Arts Center,
Cincinnati is played here again
as a part of the surface continu-
ity principle. The entire building is
lifted one story above the ground,
leaving the first floor open with only
the 10 structural cones obstructing,
creating a dynamic public place that
allows various physical passages
and visual frames. The ground
is artificially landscaped with the
same color as the building. The
landscape flows out of the ground
smoothly and morphs into the
cones which disintegrate into the
floor plate and curves up to create
the walls of the building. Even the
interior of Phaeno follows this logic,
continuous floor curves up into
walls, cones, and mezzanine levels.
This treatment to create surface
continuity is quite experimental
and innovative, and is even more
68
reinforced by the tilting lines and
the irregular waffle slab. The main
floor plate, whose underside is the
ceiling of the open ground floor
is made from a diamond shaped,
quadrilateral waffle, instead of the
common rectangular kind. While
many of the waffles are filled in,
some are left open with lighting
fixtures. The lines of the waffles
can be traced to the edge of the
building and then curves up into
the tilting lines of the walls, which
define the diamond, quadrilateral
glazing. When the building is lit at
night times, lights are coming out
of both the glazing and the waffle
openings, creating even more conti-
nuity in the building.
Of course this theme of continu-
ity and movement can not be
achieved without major structural
innovations. The most important
and notable innovation is the use
of 10 massive concrete cones
as the structures, eliminating the
need for beams and columns, and
freeing the façade. However the
cones are not only structural, they
are also programmatic, creating
functional spaces within a space.
5 of the 10 cones connect only to
the main concourse floor, and the
other 5 continue all the way up to
the ceiling. All vertical circulation
systems are within the cones, as
well as various programs such as
labs, offices, café, and auditorium.
Thus the main space left outside
of the cones are all for exhibition,
creating a large-span open floor
without interruption of columns. The
unique shape of the cones, waffle
floor slab, and the heavy load they
must take demanded the use of
Self-Compacting Concrete, instead
of regular concrete. SCC mixture
is more fluid than normal concrete
and can flow though formwork
and rebar more evenly, resulting
in stronger concrete and even the
elimination of vibrating process.
Phaeno Science Center is the larg-
est building in Europe using such
technique. To compliment the great
spans with only 5 supporting cones,
a heavy steel truss system is used
for the roof. The truss is a two way
Vierendeel truss primarily square
in shape. It changes in elevation in
certain areas; where it drops down
to meet the structural cones.
Hadid has perhaps been one of
her own greatest influences, her
buildings evolving from her paint-
ings transitioning from the “paper
architect” into a “built architect”. Of
course, her paintings themselves
have deep roots in the Russian
Constructivists, avant-garde and
Cubism. The similiarities between
her paintings and those of the
Russian Avant-garde movement,
such as Kazimir Malevich are easy
to see.
Her paintings and her buildings are
built from the city, where the city is
 Figure 5.1: Morning in the VIllage After Snowstorm, by Kazimir Malevich
shattered into planes of different
materialities that overlap, intersect,
float among one another and the
building becomes an abstraction
of this, becoming a part of the city
yet disjointed. It becomes apparent
within her paintings that it is not her
building itself that is the painting,
for the building makes up only the
smallest part, but the context, the
city and surroundings themselves
that become the painting.
Hadid’s Teacher and colleague
Koolhaas also helped shape and
influence her architectural style.
Both are part of the Deconstructiv-
ist movement, and working with in-
teraction and “Cross-programming”
of space, of movement instead of
“form following function”. Building
Figure 5.2: Blue Slabs, The Peak Club, by Zaha Hadid
becomes an instigator of movement
and program rather than a static
form.
Another architect of influence
on Hadid is Le Corbusier, who
was a pioneer in the Modernist
movement of architecture. He
promoted less structure with open
floor plans and “Free facades”.
Interestingly, he was a supporter
of minimal decoration and Clean,
exact angles, basing much of his
architecture off of the Golden
Section. It is ironic that Hadid then
creates shapes and buildings which
have no discernable connection to
this principle which controlled so
much of his architecture. Still, his
use of concrete and freeing up the
69
interior through minimal structural
elements resounds within Hadid’s
work. An interesting parallel can
be drawn between Le Corbusier’s
Villa Savoye and Phaeno Science
Center. Both buildings raise the
main floor above ground, support-
ing it on Concrete structure (narrow
columns in Savoye, vs. the cones in
Phaeno). Both structural systems
also allow an open floor plan on
the interior, without the need for
intermittent supporting walls.
Hadid of course takes this one step
further and the cones themselves
actually hold program. Finally, this
also allows the walls to be free of
the structure and have greater glaz-
ing or other materiality than might
otherwise be possible.
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Figure 2.12 Lau 2005 Figure 3.17 Mayer Bährle
Figure 1.0 Figure 2.13 Lau 2005 Figure 3.18 Mayer Bährle
Figure 1.1 Mayer Bährle Figure 2.14 Lau 2005 Figure 3.19 Mayer Bährle
Figure 1.2 Hadid Figure 2.15 Lau 2005 Figure 3.20 Mayer Bährle
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Figure 1.21 El Corquis Figure 2.34 Mayer Bährle Figure 4.5 Mayer Bährle
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70
Figure 4.23 Ansel
Figure 4.24 Ansel
Figure 4.25 Ansel
Figure 4.26 Ansel
Figure 4.27 Ansel
Figure 4.28 Ansel
Figure 4.29 Ansel
Figure 4.30 Mayer Bährle
Figure 4.31 Mayer Bährle

Figure 5.1 “The Artchive”

Figure 5.2 The Gilbert Collection

71