Phaeno - Wolfsburg, Germany

Wolfsburg, perhaps best known as the home of VW, is also home to a remarkable new science center called “Phaeno.” Opened in November 2005, Phaeno is located adjacent to a huge VW power generating facility in a dramatic concrete structure which has few right angles or straight walls. The center is a dramatic piece of sculpture in itself and creates an atmosphere that is distinctly playful, hi-tech, and just plain different.

From the washrooms to the omnipresent projections of quotes and schedules on walls and floor, everything is hi-tech. The atmosphere inside is high-energy; the concrete floors and hard surfaces ensure lots of noise and action. Few people walk around with their hands in their pockets.

After admission, visitors ride an escalator up to the start of the exhibit area. Our group was met their by an enthusiastic red-jacketed greeter/explainer. She described the day’s programs and mentioned a few things not to miss. This simple greeting served as a good orientation to the center and left our group ready to get started. Phaeno has 10 explainer-type floor staff at any time.

Phaeno gives the impression of an organization that did its homework, presenting what some might call “the best of the best” exhibits from around the world. They have had their exhibits built to the highest standards of durability and user-friendliness. The exhibits are for the most part traditional and include perennial favorites ranging from the foot-operated Cartesian diver, gyroscopic bicycle wheel, foam arch bridge, and electricity circuit lab bench.

Several observations: First, the exhibits were robustly built and most were in working order. The exhibits were designed and placed for family interaction; i.e, they were multi-sided, were at the right height, and were easily accessible for both children and adult users.

The signage was invariably bilingual (German and English), simple, and imminently readable. Each exhibit label followed a standard formula of what to do and notice, followed by a brief scientific explanation of 2-3 sentences. The signage was clearly placed, and often on a free-standing holder if it was not possible to mount the sign on the exhibit itself.

There were at least a dozen or so exhibits combining art and science. One particularly thought-provoking exhibit involving 25 coupled gears in which the last gear is embedded in concrete. As explained by the label, because of the number and ratio of the gears, it would take 594 billion years for that last gear to make one revolution. So no matter that it can’t move…

Several relatively common exhibits were enhanced in comparison with their usual implementation. For example, the Bernoulli Blower had artfully arranged hoops for users to try to navigate. Because of the design and placement of the exhibit, family groups can easily congregate around it and enjoy the experience, even though only one person can sit and steer the blower at one time. The stream table was one of the best I have seen and used white, artificial sand with a small percentage of colored grains that showed erosion effects well. The material was highly visible and did not get all over the floor the way sand normally does.

The walls, many of which are neither flat nor vertical, were used for kinetic sculptures (one particularly intriguing mechanical device takes 6 seemingly random pieces of wood and rotates them in to form a chair for a brief moment, and then quickly whisks them back out again on long, rotating arms.)

The gift shop was curiously located in a back corner and not near the exit. The food service was friendly, varied, and affordable.

In addition to the exhibits, there were four additional visitor activity spaces. In one, visitors in groups of up to 18 or so can perform simple lab-type activities in chemistry or biology. A second room is flexibly arranged for physical activities and birthday parties. A third space had been recently set up as a workshop where visitors can use simple tools and standard parts to build small devices like a front-end loader or a wind mill. Finally, a 250-seat auditorium is used for stage science shows with audience participation several times daily.

The exhibits workshop was quite small and bursting with machinery. It is used for repairs and staff mentioned that it is too small to build and test new exhibits. Also, because of the design of the building, several key spaces, such as the auditorium and largest visitor workshop mentioned above, are accessible only by going down and out of the museum and traversing across a windy, cavernous area at street level under the main part of the center. Nevertheless, the mid-day science show had standing room only.

Some visitors find the atmosphere at Phaeno busy, noisy, and unsettling. My observations of visitors were that most were fully engaged. I did not see many very young children, but I did see a surprizing number of teens, which might be due to the high-energy atmosphere. Families were experimenting together and seemed to have a genuinely good time. As mentioned by staff, one of the challenges for the future will be to build on the success of the first year and bring in new exhibits to increase repeat attendance, especially for local audiences.