# Designing ILMI Science Museum in Riyadh

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2121216079615725684
- Source account: [@Nuclab](https://x.com/Nuclab)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 2:03
- Published: 2026-11-14
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh) ILMI is going to be definitely the biggest museum that we have done so far.

[0:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=4) Hello, I'm Andrea. I'm a design principal at WI.

[0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=7) I have been working at WI for over 20 years now, and today we are going to talk about ILMI, which is our new science museum project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[0:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=17) At WI, our buildings all look different.

[0:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=20) We don't have a style, but one thing that we want to achieve is evoke, uh, emotions and create a connection to a place.

[0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=28) One interesting thing about this building is that there is no front and back.

[0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=31) The whole building is actually supposed to attract people from different parts of the site.

[0:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=36) The museum is made out of two parts. The bottom part is the large plinth-like space housing much of the gallery spaces and other public functions like auditorium, offices, museum shops, cafes, and restaurants.

[0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=50) And it's supposed to be this kind of gathering space.

[0:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=52) Then on, you actually go into the rest of the building, whether you go down on the ground floor and wander through the canyon-like spaces, or you decide to go up through the globe and discover that world, uh, above us.

[1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=65) Once we enter the globe, it is actually supposed to be a space that is full of galleries and gardens.

[1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=72) As we go through the globe, people are going to be able to look out onto the site and actually end up on the very top, we will have the 360 view restaurant.

[1:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=84) One of the features in this building is the indoor waterfall.

[1:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=88) This is going to be the tallest indoor waterfall in the world.

[1:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=92) It's coming from the very highest point of the building all the way down into the lobby, and it is going to be the first thing that everyone would see.

[1:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=98) This is not an art museum. We're very well known for doing art museum exhibit designs, but this is going to be a science museum and primarily dedicated to children ages 6 to 16.

[1:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=109) I hope ILMI becomes much more than a place people visit once.

[1:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/dr8aU1HPLMOj/en/designing-ilmi-science-museum-in-riyadh?t=114) I hope it becomes a part of growing up in Saudi Arabia, and I hope that by being in this space, that they feel inspired to ask questions.