When the weather goes crazy

Heatwaves, flooding, storms and torrential rain… Extreme weather conditions are occuring more frequently worldwide. Unlike average global temperatures, they force us to experience climate change up close and personal. In addition to its famous journey on 8°34′ East, the Klimahaus (‘Climate House’) Bremerhaven offers with ‘Weather Extremes’ an equally impressive exhibition focusing on extreme weather phenomena. After winning the competition, we had the privilege of designing this new attraction: In a unique staging, visitors can experience weather extremes across three floors.

An immersive journey through the weather extremes

In the new exhibition WETTEREXTREME (‘Weather Extremes’), a lifting platform takes visitors on a poetic adventure. The immersive experience takes travellers through floods, droughts and storms high above the clouds. A scenery combining stage design, film, movement, sound, and effects lets visitors experience weather extremes with all their senses. The platform not only moves at its own angle of inclination, but travels up and towards the exhibition through an opening in the intermediate floor.

Still dealing with weather? Or is this a matter of climate?

The emotional journey is framed by two exhibition areas: While the lower level focuses on observing the weather, the upper level is all about taking action. In the extreme weather studio, for example, the exhibits address the actual phenomena, i.e. how extremes occur and why they are happening increasingly frequently due to global warming. On the upper level, however, the weather has already left its mark. What are our options? Here, the visitors meet people who have to deal with these weather conditions and try to prevent future catastrophes. Let their actions inspire you!

Through highs and lows: a tough construction phase

The realisation of the exhibition required overcoming several major construction challenges. Among other things, three enormous steel staircases had to be removed from the building. As large-scale machinery could not be brought into the exhibition spaces, the project partners modified standard equipment and tools to dismantle the staircases on site into individual sections. An even greater challenge was the creation of large openings through the reinforced concrete floor slabs across three storeys of the newly formed atrium. Today, the lift platform for the immersive Weather Extremes experience travels through this nearly 20-metre-high shaft. Working with extreme precision and in close coordination with structural engineers, countless reinforcing steel bars first had to be cut and then adapted to the new structure with millimetre precision, welded and finally re-embedded in concrete.