Futurium – a look into the future, insight into the future

The Futurium is located not far from Berlin’s main railway station. Here you can discover an exciting permanent exhibition on two floors and a special exhibition on the topic of the future on one floor.

The Futurium project is funded by several business enterprises, foundations and the German government. Since 2019, you can visit the exciting exhibition free of charge.

Walking along Alexanderufer, a modern building with an irregular pentagonal floor plan stands between office buildings. During construction, care was taken to use sustainable materials and it meets the standard of a low-energy building. The energy concept provides for the use of renewable energy in order to minimise the use of fossil fuels. For example, there are numerous solar panels on the roof to generate energy.

On the southern forecourt, in front of the entrance, there is a kinetic sculpture called “Torque”. It looks like a large rod on which a plate rotates. Every noon, the plate starts moving for an hour.

The insight into the future begins …

From the ground floor of the building you can reach the permanent exhibition on the two upper floors, the skywalk and the special exhibition in the basement. The ground floor also houses event rooms, the cloakroom lockers and the museum shop.

When you enter the exhibition level, a small robot welcomes you. If you want, you can get a wristband with a chip. You can hold it up to a reader at some of the stations in the exhibition to save “decisions” or information about a topic. At the end of the visit, you can have the chip “read” and receive a personal code. You can enter this code on a Futurium website and view and process the stored information at your leisure.

Experience the future

The concept of the permanent exhibition wants to make it clear to the visitor that humans, technology and nature are interconnected in life on earth and influence each other. This leads to the central question: Is it possible to control the individual factors in such a way that all the inhabitants of the earth can exist together in the future?

What is exciting is that not only one future is presented here. Different approaches are presented, each of which can change and shape an aspect of the future.
If we take the topic of housing, for example, various forms of housing of the future are shown here. Climate-neutral building methods, new building materials, other forms of housing and places to live – every change leads to a change in the future. Topics such as nutrition, the use of robots or the topic of health are also looked at from a wide variety of perspectives.

The aim of the entire exhibition is to give visitors the opportunity to make decisions on a topic area at multimedia stations and to experience the simulated reaction in the future as a result. I found this extremely exciting in some areas. It was even more exciting to observe the reactions of the visitors. From “do we really want to live like this…” to “how cool is this idea…” everything was there. It showed me very clearly that even the smallest thought-provoking impulses can often set something in motion.

In the middle of the exhibition is a huge wooden sculpture that stands as an example of the interplay between nature and technology. Interesting ideas are presented at numerous tables around the sculpture, such as the use of mushrooms as building materials or flying wind turbines that could be used to generate energy.

Of course, the exhibition has not remained at the level of knowledge at the opening, but has evolved just as life on earth is constantly developing. For this reason alone, it is well worth going to the Futurium several times to participate in the development and new concepts of thought.

Special exhibition in the basement

The basement is called the “Futurium Lab”. Here experiments are presented that deal with techniques of the future.

But it’s not quite the “future”. I discovered a 3-D printer in one area. This technology is already widely used, but it certainly offers a lot of potential for the future. Here you can take part in training courses in the field of 3-D printing.

I was particularly impressed by one sculpture. This illustrates the complex topic of bio-desgin and seemed almost a little eerie. The noosphere reacts to the movements and sounds of the visitors and its individual “feelers” glitter and change their position.

Viewpoint over Berlin – Skywalk Futurium

On the top floor of the exhibition, a staircase leads up to the roof of the Futurium. Anyone can go on this roof tour and it is free of charge, as is the visit to the exhibition.

The entire roof is fully covered with photovoltaic panels and solar thermal pipes. These almost completely cover the building’s energy needs.

A path leads across the roof, which rises to the north. From up there, you have a great view over the Charité grounds and, on the other side, over the Spree towards the government district. Since there are somewhat higher buildings to the side, the view is limited to two directions.

The Skywalk is on winter break and closed until spring.

Address:

Futurium gGmbH
Alexanderufer 2
10117 Berlin

Opening hours

Wednesday – Monday : 10 – 18 h
Thursday : 10 – 20h

Tuesday: closed
24 December (Christmas Eve): closed
31 December (New Year’s Eve): closed
1 January 2023 (New Year’s Day) 13:00 to 18:00 open

Admission fees:

free

Cloakroom:

Backpacks and large bags larger than DINA 4 may not be taken into the exhibitions. Free lockers are available on the ground floor, for which you need a one-euro piece.