The Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre is currently one of the largest cultural and science projects in the world and once complete will house four museums, Natural History, Science, Islamic and Space.
Construction of the museums was already completed and currently the exhibits are being fitted. As you can imagine, there is a lot of logistics that goes into a project of this magnitude. Here is an excerpt from a recent article on the museum fit-out specialist BECK who are working on this project:
On international projects, there is a greater demand for technology, the use of more demanding and higher materials specifications, higher density of exhibits to floor space, the need for continuous communication on every level and the need for staff to be on location 100 per cent of the time.
This is illustrated at the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salam Cultural Centre where one small area is a live rain forest with soil, irrigation and newly planted trees (combined with specially manufactured scenically created trees and plants), which all back up to a one million litre aquarium with acrylic panels that are 500mm thick to contain the water.
“We have more than 150 multi-media requirements and about 20 films to be shot. Because of the climate there are only really two months that you can film in Kuwait – January and February – to get a good quality image. So, if you have a two-year project you have four months to do all your filming. If you miss that slot you delay the project for a year.” [Source]
If you’re interested in reading more articles similar to that then here are a few you could go through, if you know of any more let me know about them:
BECK – international museum fit-out: breaking the boundaries of what’s possible
International museum fit-out – UK specialists taking on the world
The Hub – from UK blockbusters to mega projects abroad
The cultural centre is slated to open by the end of the year. For renderings and more information on the project, click [Here]
3 replies on “Behind the Scenes of the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre”
“This is illustrated at the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salam Cultural Centre where one small area is a live rain forest with soil, irrigation and newly planted trees (combined with specially manufactured scenically created trees and plants), which all back up to a one million litre aquarium with acrylic panels that are 500mm thick to contain the water.”
That sounds amazing! The scientific center should follow suit not go ahead with an immoral dolphinarium…
I personally woeked part time at the aquarium and the main tank they have is 1.5 million litres of water and their coastal area has naturally planted trees that can’t be found in kuwait. I’m not saying that the center is the best but if your comparing both then I had to step in and give you numbers …im really excited to see a new aquarium area though and the cultural center as a whole!
I can see your point however the marine ecosystem is something that human technology will never be able to come remotely close to replicating.
But i appreciate the statistic