A life without a washing machine or refrigerator? – Unimaginable for many people today. The new Haier Home Appliance Museum, recently opened in Qingdao, China, shows how this development came about and where it is heading. ATELIER BRÜCKNER has designed a brand experience space for the Chinese home appliance manufacturer. Covering a total exhibition area of 6,000 square meters, divided into four sections, visitors gain a varied and informative insight into cultural traditions, technological history and new technologies in the field of home appliances – offering a fresh perspective on these everyday companions of ours.
The prologue uses five meter high LED walls to present fire, water and wind as natural elements – forces that we still encounter in home appliances today, albeit culturally tamed and transformed. Embodied in technology, they continue to provide modern comfort: from the oven and refrigerator to the air conditioner. Home appliances surround us as a matter of course, and it is only when the technology fails that we become truly aware of their importance.
In the “History” exhibition area, visitors are immersed in the past. Five dimly lit rooms are each dedicated to a decade of the 20th century, covering the 1930s and the 1960s to the 1990s. Large-scale film projections show short stories, such as a day in the life of a factory worker and his wife in Detroit in 1935. Below the projections, a stage set with original furniture and home appliances resembles a still from a movie. Individual objects are lit up when they play a role in the film – for example, the icebox whose door is opened. The interplay between the stage set and film projections makes the society and technology of each era tangible, while the lifestyle, music and fashion of different decades are brought to life. On the walls, visitors also find explanatory texts, mini-games and display cases containing historically relevant, era-typical objects, including telephones, televisions and Polaroid cameras. Embedded in a timeline, these provide an overview of technological development and trigger personal memories. In the 1980s section, for instance, visitors can play iconic arcade games of that decade, such as Tetris, Pac-Man and Super Mario.
In the “Village” section, visitors then explore the present day and the latest home appliances. Passing through a small Zen garden, they reach seven abstractly designed “houses” – which, with their simulated living spaces, offer an insight into current and future-oriented products.
Here, visitors can see Haier’s complete product range, including its individual brands such as General Electric, Fisher & Paykel and Casarte. Screens, designed to look like framed pictures hanging in the “homes”, provide information. A restaurant and a wine bar make the “Village” a cozy place to stay, reminding visitors of the comfort that home appliances bring us. Cooking events are also held here – after all, our culinary experiences are also influenced by home appliances.
Finally, young visitors also get their money’s worth: the children’s area, with its colorfully designed theme rooms and detailed hand-painted walls, invites children to learn through play. In the “Electric World” section, young visitors explore the physical principles behind everyday home appliances: How does a washing machine work? And how does heat exchange function in a refrigerator? In the “Haier Digital Hub” section, children finally become creators themselves: using a digital drawing board, they design their own robot from home appliance parts, and then make it dance.
Founded in 1984, Haier is one of the world’s leading companies in the home appliance sector. With the Home Appliance Museum, it offers a brand experience space aimed at a broad audience. The building is designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta. Located right by the sea, it is a new attraction in Qingdao. Its outline resembles an iceberg, and as an iconic building, it enriches the metropolis, which is home to over three million people.
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