Crowded closely together the visitors in one corner of the room stare spellbound at a huge, transparent pipe. Suddenly small flames ascend from the floor, circle one another, merge into each other and rise four metres upwards as a blazing fire tornado. After a few minutes the spectacle is over and the flames disappear again into the floor. This is in fact no typical experiment at Phæno, but certainly the most spectacular – and one-of-a-kind across Europe.

Approximately 300 interactive experiment stations invite visitors to try things out, discover, join in and be amazed. A two-meter tall support-free bridge arch can be built out of large foam building blocks, and oversized, futuristic-looking beetles can be put into motion across a glass pane with the assistance of two joysticks: coordinating six legs is not quite so easy.

“At Phæno it’s mainly about having fun, becoming inquisitive and expanding your knowledge. We intentionally don’t specify any specific routes. Each visitor takes his own personal route through our experimental landscape and finds the things that interest him on his own”, as Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt describes the concept. He is the initiator of the project and the director of Phæno.

The spatial concept creates an atmosphere of openness and encourages you to go on your own path of discovery. Zaha Hadid, world-renowned architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize, has created an entirely new world with Phæno. The impressive structure, supported by cone-shaped “feet”, soars over the street right next to an ICE rail station. This avant-garde architecture required innovative building materials, self-compacting concrete, for example. For Phæno it was used on a scale that is unique in Germany.

On the inside an architectural adventureland unfolds at a height of seven metres. Craters, swirls, warped staircases, a high plateau, caves and dark corners give way to one another, in utterly surprising ways for the most part. The entire complex appears to change individually for each person. The architecture involves the visitor and encourages him to head off on his own tour of discovery.

Eight topical areas divide up the experimental landscape in loose order: Life, light and vision, motion, wind and weather, micro and macro, energy, matter, information. You can start at any station, continue the journey concentrically or even skip over things, because Phæno is a non-linear network in which the visitor can choose his own route, intuitively, randomly and through exploration. A few of them simply stroll through the constructed landscape in amazement, and many obviously hesitate to give free reign to their lust for discovery. But by the time they see another visitor put at ball into motion from just his brain waves, for instance, or see the faces of two people standing opposite one another in front of a half-height mirror merge into a single face, that’s when their curiosity is aroused.

The play and experiment stations originate from a total of nine countries. They were specially built for Phæno and some can only be seen in Wolfsburg. The exhibits were put together and in part self-designed by Joe Ansel, one of the bright lights of the American science centre movement, who holds the role of curator at Phæno.

You can also approach fascinating phenomena from natural science and technology in three visitor laboratories, the science theatre, the show crater or the idea forum. In addition, the Phæno Shop, a “supermarket of knowledge”, offers approximately 5,000 items from the big wide world of sciences. And those who get hungry after so many surprises can take a break. At Phæno there is a restaurant as well as a coffee bar.

Text: Rainer Meier

Information
Phæno: Willy-Brandt-Platz 1, D-38440 Wolfsburg,  Germany, Tel. +49 (0) 180/106 06 00 (local call in Germany), www.phaeno.de/en/home.html

Open Tue-Fri 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat/Sun + holidays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission fee: Adults EUR 12, children and young adults from 6 to 17 years of age EUR 7.50