Dubai Museum of the Future to shut for overhaul

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai

Dubai’s Museum of the Future will close temporarily from September 1 as it begins its most extensive transformation since opening, replacing its main exhibitions with a new generation of immersive experiences scheduled to debut in early 2027.
The landmark attraction has urged visitors to see its existing exhibitions before the end of August, bringing forward an earlier indication that the current visitor experience would remain available until around mid-September. Work on the redesigned museum will begin after the closure, with the new spaces expected to open during the first quarter of 2027.

The relaunch is being timed around the museum’s fifth anniversary. The attraction opened on February 22, 2022, and has developed into one of Dubai’s most recognisable cultural and architectural landmarks, combining futuristic exhibitions with a building that has itself become a major tourism draw.

Every major exhibition forming the present visitor journey is expected to be replaced. The museum is developing multimedia installations, interactive environments and redesigned thematic areas intended to reflect scientific, technological and societal changes expected to shape the coming decades.

The overhaul follows a global initiative that invited people to submit ideas about what the museum should explore next. More than 1,000 suggestions were received from contributors across different countries, professions and disciplines. Those proposals are helping shape the concepts now being developed for the next visitor experience.

The museum’s current exhibitions present imagined scenarios involving space exploration, environmental science, biotechnology, emerging technology and human well-being. Among its best-known experiences is OSS Hope, which places visitors inside a simulated orbital space station set decades into the future.

Another area, the Heal Institute, examines ecosystems and biodiversity through an imagined scientific research centre, including a recreation inspired by the Amazon rainforest and a large digital library representing species and genetic information.

Al Waha, designed as a technology-free wellness environment, explores the relationship between people, their senses and increasingly connected lifestyles. Tomorrow Today showcases technologies and prototypes that could influence transport, sustainability, health and other sectors, while Future Heroes provides interactive challenges aimed primarily at younger visitors.

Those experiences will give way to an entirely redesigned narrative rather than being updated individually. The museum’s approach is based on periodically renewing its content so exhibitions do not become fixed representations of what the future might look like.

The next generation of experiences is expected to focus more strongly on participation, allowing visitors to interact with ideas about technologies, economies and societies rather than mainly observing displays. Artificial intelligence, climate challenges, scientific discovery and changing patterns of human life are among the broad areas likely to influence the museum’s evolving programme.

Details of individual exhibitions have yet to be disclosed. Further announcements are expected during the development period covering the new attractions, programmes and visitor journey.

The temporary shutdown marks a significant change for an attraction that has operated as one of Dubai’s high-profile tourism destinations since its launch. Its location beside Emirates Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road and direct connection to the Dubai Metro have helped make it accessible to large numbers of international visitors as well as residents.

The museum had welcomed more than four million visitors by the period surrounding its fourth year of operation, highlighting its emergence as a major component of Dubai’s tourism and cultural offering. Its programme has also extended beyond exhibitions to conferences, technology discussions and events bringing together scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers and specialists working in emerging fields.