Defying gravity: How Dubai’s Museum of the Future was built

Editor’s Note: This CNN Travel series is, or was, CNN — When it finally opened in February 2022, Dubai’s new Museum of the Future was already one of the city’s favorite buildings. Upon opening, Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum declared the 77-meter-high stainless steel torus “the most beautiful building in the world,” while Architectural Digest called it “an instant icon.” It’s another superlative for the city, and a piece of architecture that’s light years ahead of anything Dubai and the world have ever seen before. “Each of the floors represents the future of healthcare, transportation, aviation, smart cities, government services, space travel, you name it,” explains Shaun Killa, design partner of Dubai-based Killa Design, the architecture studio behind the building. “But it’s the future as we understand it for maybe the next two to three years.” The green mound that the Museum of the Future sits upon represents Earth, with the main building symbolizing humanity. “It took us four and a half months to figure out how to take something flat and stick it on a building that’s parametrically designed, and that’s just swept arcs with no ‘surface,’” he says.