Hainan Science and Technology Museum Opens

The Hainan Science and Technology Museum is now open. Located at the edge of the Wuyuan River National Wetland Park, the building was conceived by MAD Architects as a volume floating above the waterway.

A single spiral ramp forms the organizational spine of the structure, linking the museum’s four exhibition galleries, planetarium, theater, sunken plaza, and shaded outdoor learning spaces for botany and agriculture. Located in the city of Haikou, the museum serves as civic infrastructure for local families while establishing a new benchmark for science education on Hainan Island.

Following the precedent of the Cloudscape of Haikou – a small, white reading pavilion also designed by MAD in Century Park – the new Hainan Science and Technology Museum extends this civic waterfront corridor further westward.

Ma Yansong designs a museum in flight

Visitors entering at ground level follow the spiral pedestrian ramp upward through the interactive children’s exhibits, the Hainan rainforest and tropical agriculture galleries, and, finally the oceanic and deep space exhibits. On descent, the order is reversed, with the ramp functioning in both directions. The various themes transition smoothly into one another, bypassing the tradition of closed doors and isolated galleries.

“I wanted the project to be built on the idea of flow and chaos — space, function, and knowledge to flow into one another, freely”, says Ma Yansong, founder of MAD.

Three structural concrete cores support the entire spiral. This configuration elevates the ring-shaped volume above an open ground level while eliminating columns on the upper floor plates. Below, a sweeping canopy shades a plaza adjoining the base of the museum, extending the public realm outward. The resulting entry sequence reads more like a covered town square than a sterile institutional forecourt.

As a result, the building appears suspended above the reflecting pools and canopy below. The exterior envelope is clad in 843 fiber-reinforced polymer panels, creating an iridescent silver surface that changes throughout the day with the weather.

>>> Discover also the ZGC International Innovation Center by MAD in Beijing