Math Camp

Zaha Hadid Architects' mathematics gallery opens at London Science Museum

7 DECEMBER 2016       DEZEEN       JESSICA MAIRS

Zaha Hadid Architects has completed the new mathematics gallery for London's Science Museum, which is modelled on a wind tunnel for a 1920s plane.

The Mathematics: The Winton Gallery at the Science Museum in South Kensington is the first UK project by Zaha Hadid Architects to open its doors since the firm's figurehead died earlier this year.

The gallery was created to host over 100 objects from the museum's science, technology, engineering and mathematics collections. These objects show how mathematics impacts the world, from trade to travel and architectural form.

Suspended from the ceiling is a 1929 Handley Page Gugnunc aircraft – the inspiration for the gallery's design.

Huge three-dimensional curls form a canopy over the space, based on the air flows that would have surrounded the aircraft in flight. The translucent, undulating forms are illuminated by violet light.

The Gugnunc's wing design was influenced by pioneering aerodynamic research, and is used in the gallery to illustrate how mathematics can be used to solve practical issues.

"Conceived as a wind tunnel for the largest object in the gallery – a Handley Page aircraft from 1929  – the space follows the lines of airflow around it in a stunning display of imagined aerodynamics," said a statement from ZHA.

"Inspired by the Handley Page aircraft, the design is driven by equations of airflow used in the aviation industry."

Zaha Hadid – who ranked number one in the Dezeen Hot List – studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut prior to launching her architecture career. Read More