EVOLUON Museum exploring the exciting ‘World of Future’:One of the many invaluable gifts to Eindhoven town from the technology giant-The Philips Company

Recently on 26/5/24 ,we visited Evoluon museum of Eindhoven,Netherlands & were pretty impressed with the buildings’ architecture & numerous inbuilt facilitities encompassed within them.Although its impossible to predict the future but we can certainly imagine what it looks like!Visiting the magical instalations of Evoluon is like an expedition that fills us with feeling of nostalgia encountering the thrilling experience!Great experience for the young & the old taking us on an attractive ride to the distant future on the Merry Go Round, shoot at donor organs, swim like a virtual fish ,talk to a mussle or create a deep fake of yourself .Evoluon welcomes all to World of Space Farming which is believed to be the Future of Food!Team of farmers ,Scientists ,Enterpreuneurs & designers are already developing new foods finding innovative ways to turn into reality!Here I have posted almost an endless panorama of photos & texts of Evoluon museum for my lovely readers to “Enjoy the Future”

Evoluon’s History :

Originally a science museum, the distinctively designed Evoluon in Eindhoven,Netherlands is now a sleek, modern conference center. This famous landmark has secured the coveted Benelux’s highest possible rating, of ‘5 hammers’ and vaunts an events venue that can accommodate up to 1500 visitors .Frits Philips commissioned the Evoluon to commemorate the Philips company’s 75th anniversary in 1966 and gifted it to the public. The Evoluon was extremely popular, attracting over 500,000 visitors in 1970 with its thought-provoking science and technology exhibits that encouraged visitor interaction.

Museum :The building was used as an educational technology museum from 1966 to 1989 and attracted large numbers of visitors until the 1970s. This was partly because the visitors themselves were allowed to experiment and operate demonstration models. At the time, this was still new and especially attractive to students and other young people. Many schools traditionally organized an ‘Evoluon trip’ once a year. It was part of an NS day trip. Moreover, there were no competing technology museums in the Netherlands yet. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, similar technology-oriented public museums were also established in other cities, such as in Amsterdam. As a result, the number of visitors to the Evoluon decreased every year. The exploitation and updating of the set-up cost a lot of money and in the end people ended up in the red. Also with Philips (owner of the building) things did not go well in those years and the group disposed of many unprofitable branches during large-scale reorganisations. According to Philips, it became too expensive to update the exhibitions sufficiently. Despite much protest, the group management decided, after years of investing money on the Evoluon, to close the exhibition in the building and from 1989 it no longer had a public function.

Convention and Event Center :

Subsequently, several new buildings were completed on the surrounding site and since 1996 the Evoluon complex has been a conference and events center. From 2004 to (March 11) 2013, the Friends of the Evoluon Foundation was active. This foundation strived to restore the Evoluon as an icon for technology and progress. The foundation was re-established on February 27, 2018. Since the summer of 2012, Philips wants to use the building again for (temporary) exhibitions. In that year the kick-off was given with an exhibition about the human brain, in collaboration with Discovery center Continium in Kerkrade . More events will follow in collaboration with Continium, as well as with NEMO and Technopolis in Mechelen (Belgium).

New Evoluon:

In October 2013, the German band Kraftwerk  gave four 3D concerts at the Evoluon, each attended by 1,200 spectators. The room was personally chosen for this purpose by Kraftwerk founder Ralf Hutter , because of the retro-futuristic appearance of the building and its relationship with Philips . 3D animations showing the saucer section of the building descending from space were part of the song Spacelab .In the autumn of 2014,RTL 4’s Slimmer I Oen program was included in the Evoluon .In the film ‘The Slim Family’, the Inventicon inventors’ fair takes place in the Evoluon. 

A UFO Has Landed :

The Evoluon’s distinctive design resembles a UFO that has landed in the middle of Eindhoven. The building was based on an original idea by Frits Philip. The unusual design meant many calculations were needed to make sure the 77-meter concrete dome was properly supported. Concentric rings line the dome like circular balconies and are now used for events. In the late 1980s, the building was renovated and expanded to be used for receptions and conferences for the Philips company. Later on in the 1990s the Philips Hall auditorium, meeting rooms, and VIP suites were added. The Evoluon is now available for conferences, meetings, and events. At the beginning of 2021 it was announced that the Evoluon will once again become a museum (a so-called future lab ) for science and technology under the leadership of the Next Nature Network . Half a million euros will be made available from the Ministry of Education , Culture and Science , the municipality of Eindhoven and the province of Noord-Brabant will contribute another 5.4 million euros for the next four years . The permanent exhibition is expected to follow in about four years time.

Some of the amazing innovations of the Future Lab in the Evoluon Museum :

Its a must-visit museum to explore the exciting ‘World of Future’ imagining how it might look like! Its a Science & Technology museum also called the “Future Lab” I am truly indebted to Wikipedia & Evoluons Official Website for the invaluable information on the subject “Happy reading😁