Maths rebranded: London’s Science Museum opens Zaha Hadid-designed gallery

A new gallery designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, 'Mathematics: The Winton Gallery', has opened at London’s Science Museum. Inspired by aerodynamics – with the revolutionary Handley Page ‘Gugnunc’ aeroplane soaring through its midst – the gallery architecture descends down onto the displays, its swooping voluminous curves wrapping up the objects into a convincing case history on how mathematics is the pivot of our human world.
The architects worked with curator David Rooney to design the gallery around 100 artefacts selected from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics collections. A symmetrical pod-like structure made of fabric with a frame of powder-coated aluminium engulfs existing columns in the gallery, creating a central seating area and folding itself around display cases all lit by a soft and unearthly glow, which fades from yellow to pink to light purple.
An interior view of the gallery
The form follows the flow of air that would have swirled around the Gugnunc, which was built in 1929 in Britain – then the safest aeroplane for human travel, playing a crucial role in opening up accessible aviation to the world.
Other tools enveloped in the architecture include a 17th century Islamic astrolabe and Wisard pattern-recognition machine – an early artificial intelligence device. Both help us understand how maths has been intertwined into the human experience over the past four centuries, from travel to astronomy to psychology – enhancing our lives and predicting our future while slowly counting the days and years until we die.
A box of glass eyes used by Francis Galton in his 1884 Anthropometric Laboratory, where he devleoped his theories in eugenics
The architects used computational fluid dynamics to translate the equations of airflow into the shapes of the forms, and robotic manufacture was used to produce the curved benches. Mathematics was a subject that was significant to the late Dame Zaha Hadid, who studied it at university, experimenting with geometry both technically and creatively.
Presenting maths in a new, almost alien, light, ’Mathematics: The Winton Gallery’ is the world’s only permanent public exhibition designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Thanks to principal support from philanthropists David and Claudia Harding, as well as sponsors Samsung and MathWorks, the gallery is free for all to visit.
The gallery presents 100 artefacts from the museum's science, technology, engineering and mathematics collections
The exhibition has been curated by David Rooney, who recently authored Mathematics: How It Shaped Our World to accompany the new opening
The range of objects in the gallery spans classical architecture to furniture design to an early example of the code-breaking Enigma machine. Pictured, Shizuo Ishiguro's Electronic North Sea Model, 1960
This symmetric pod-like structure is a solid form of the air that would have flowed around the Handley Page ‘Gugnunc’ aeroplane, built in 1929
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Science Museum website and the Zaha Hadid Architects website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
ADDRESS
Science Museum
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2DD
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Watch: artist Shezad Dawood lights up The Gaumont, King’s Road’s creatively focused new hub
In our short film, meet the artist, see his new work in the making, and discover more about The Gaumont
-
Bay House brings restrained modern forms and low-energy design to the Devon coast
A house with heart, McLean Quinlan’s Bay House is a sizeable seaside property that works with the landscape to mitigate impact and maximise views of the sea
-
Meet Kotchakorn Voraakhom, a Thai landscape architect on a mission
Thai landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, her studio Landprocess and network Porous City, are on a mission to make Bangkok a model of climate resilience
-
Watch: artist Shezad Dawood lights up The Gaumont, King’s Road’s creatively focused new hub
In our short film, meet the artist, see his new work in the making, and discover more about The Gaumont
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Here in the UK, summer seems to be fading fast. Moody skies and showers called for early-autumn rituals for the Wallpaper* team: retreating into the depths of the Tate Modern, slipping into shadowy cocktail bars, and curling up with a good book
-
‘A Single Man’ is now a ballet – we go behind the design
As ‘A Single Man’ is presented by The Royal Ballet and Factory International in London, here’s how its set designer brought protagonist George’s inner and outer worlds to life on stage
-
Artists imbue the domestic with an unsettling unfamiliarity at Hauser & Wirth
Three artists – Koak, Ding Shilun and Cece Philips – bring an uncanny subversion to the domestic environment in Hauser & Wirth’s London exhibition
-
Inside the fight to keep an iconic Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the UK
‘Sculpture with Colour’ captures a pivotal moment in Hepworth’s career. When it was sold to an overseas buyer, UK institutions launched a campaign to keep it in the country
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Another week, another flurry of events, opening and excursions showcasing the best of culture and entertainment at home and abroad. Catch our editors at Scandi festivals, iconic jazz clubs, and running the length of Manhattan…
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
The Wallpaper* team immersed themselves in culture this week, attending theatre, music and art performances and exhibitions at some of London’s most esteemed establishments. Along the way, we may have discovered the city's best salad…
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It’s been another week of Wallpaper* being first through the door – visiting, sampling and reporting back on the freshest in art, design, beauty and more. Highlights included a new rental development, skincare residency and Edinburgh hotel…