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  • 2 years ago
Phaeno is a new science museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. The Phaeno Science Center building is a work of Zaha Hadid in collaboration with Mayer Bährle architects. The museum has been officially inaugurated on November 24, 2005 by mayor Rolf Schnellecke, director Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt, the prime minister of Lower Saxony Christian Wulff, the president of the Phaeno Foundation, Dr. Ulf Merbold, architect Zaha Hadid and curator Joe Ansel. Impressions from the opening reception, November 24, 2005, part 1.
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:28 I'm sorry I can't speak any German. I won't invent it. I won't invent today.
00:34 I want to ask in advance for all my team and Ron and Maya and Peter and Bella to come forward
00:42 because although I'm always, my name is put up front, but this is really the work of many people
00:49 and I would like to call them and I would like them to come, at least stand in the front there.
00:56 First of all, I want to thank the city for making it possible for us all to really develop this project.
01:06 Patrick, please can you come forward?
01:11 Can I say, David, whoever.
01:17 [Applause]
01:26 I must have one woman among them. Sarah, they are hiding. For some reason today they are shy.
01:32 Sarah Clumps, please. Anyway, I want to thank the city for making it possible,
01:39 to really make it possible to build this building which is the work and the development of these ideas for nearly 30 years.
01:48 It's a very rare opportunity I think for someone to say that we almost realized what I would call the theoretical project.
01:57 20 years ago, 10 years ago it was not seen as possible to achieve such a, I won't say a dream and ambition,
02:05 so I want to thank the city, I cannot say everybody's name, the president of the region,
02:12 the Volkswagen, I'm not very good with German names, but I have memorized Dr. Guthard's name
02:21 and the mayor's name, Mr. Schleniker, who really have supported me and loved me in a funny way for many years.
02:29 [Applause]
02:36 I have a daily love-hate relationship with Dr. Guthard, but I love you, seriously.
02:41 I'm grateful to you, we all love you all, but I must say, I really think it's fantastic for the city to be able to allow me and my team,
02:53 Laura, where are you? You have to show an example that women can succeed in this profession.
03:01 Please, come out of this crowd.
03:04 Anyway, this team has really slaved in front of my eyes, literally, for the past 6 years.
03:13 And I know, Ryan and Peter, who are here, they've been on the ground developing everything for so many years.
03:23 But to be able to connect between industry and urbanism, between play and serious experimentation in one building,
03:33 about landscape and playfulness in the interior, which was very important.
03:40 So the idea was through education and knowledge, our minds would be able to sometimes wander and meander in a way to make it possible for future inventions.
03:53 But to be able to create this urban, really, field on the ground and an object above was really a very rare, let's say, ambition from all of us.
04:05 So I have to thank, again, Patrick, who's been our collaborator and partner for many years.
04:11 And we sat for the past 18 years, many late hours at night, doing strange things.
04:19 Even some members of the office were crazy.
04:23 The team, some of them were his students, indulged in this craziness.
04:30 But also, I think, we did not realize about architecture that it's incredibly hard work.
04:36 Is Sarah here?
04:38 [laughter]
04:40 She's obviously doing something odd somewhere.
04:43 That it's very hard work.
04:45 People always ask me, you know, "Is your dream become a reality?"
04:50 And, you know, this idea that I or any of us would kind of go somewhere on the hills and dream,
04:56 architecture is not really like that.
05:00 It requires incredible diligence and pain.
05:03 And no matter how much we smile, we get beaten up all the time in a nice way by our clients.
05:11 We don't always mind.
05:13 But it is very hard work and it's a very complex profession.
05:16 And I think it's an incredible and rare moment that we actually did this project.
05:22 Thank you. Thank you all very much.
05:25 Dostlenica, thank you.
05:27 Dr. Gunnhart, all of you, Joe.
05:31 I really am first too cold and I'm lost for words.
05:36 I'm not known to be lost for words.
05:38 I talk too much sometimes.
05:40 But this is a great, great moment for me and for all my team who have worked extremely hard.
05:46 And I really hope that this building gives you joy
05:51 and also gives us something to the city where the city deserves it,
05:56 which is this connection between such kind of diverse activity in terms of kind of the urban feel
06:03 where the city on one side, the production on the other.
06:07 And hopefully this space will be--
06:09 [Gunfire]
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