The Macao Science Center is a state-of-the-art educational and cultural facility located at
the gateway to this special administrative region of China, situated along the Pearl River
Delta within an hour of Hong Kong by ferry. Completed in December 2009, the facility was
dedicated by President Hu Jin Tao on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the former
Portuguese colony’s return to Chinese sovereignty.
The 23,000-sq.-meter (250,000-sq. foot) center is clad in aluminum and houses interactive
exhibition galleries, advanced conference facilities and seminar rooms, and a 150-seat planetarium
with a hemispherical screen equipped with high-resolution 3-D digital projectors. At
its summit, an observation deck provides a 360-degree view toward the water and the city.
The building’s playful volumes, consisting of a rhomboid, a dome and a tilted cone, are designed
to articulate the functional program and exploit its waterfront setting, and it stands as
an enduring landmark of Macao.
The plan is organized around clear pathways and choices intended to orient and enliven the
experience of scientific discovery and to encourage multiple visits. Modulations of ceiling
height, of color and light levels, and of geometry intensify the anticipation and enjoyment of
exhibits. Throughout, portals to the sea and sky illuminate the relationship between human
achievement and knowledge to the natural world.
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