Passing through Lower Parel in Mumbai, the building for the Museum of Solutions does not stand out, apart from the brightly coloured rainbow and the green façade design adding a sense of vibrancy to the otherwise box-like form. Surrounded by the skyscrapers of one of the city’s commercial districts, the building both distinguishes itself and seems non-descript enough to fit in. That is until you walk into the double-height foyer, which serves as the main public space for the museum. Bustling with children and adults, the space incorporates an amphitheatre for various functions, as well as a museum shop and various installations. Colours, sounds and forms invite one into a space that bubbles over with a sense of play and discoveries to unfold.

The Museum of Solutions or MuSo, a JSW (Jindal Steel Works) initiative, is described as an "experiential museum where children become responsible, conscious, caring and mindful citizens of the world." Completed over a period of six years by Mumbai-based architects Ratan J Batliboi Consultants Pvt Ltd. and Bricolage Bombay, the museum design is spread across 100,000 sq. ft. in the heart of the city. As the architects mention, the museum architecture aims to “challenge the conventional notion of what a building such as this can signify and impact, thus creating a template for a ‘New Museum’.” Elaborating on the notion of a new museum, the lead architect Ratan J Batliboi tells STIR, “Traditionally museums are about artefacts, history, or things long gone; discoveries in a sense. This is a museum which has no artefacts or products. It's intelligence that's going to be recorded for posterity.”

By creating what is an activity-oriented public architecture for children, the museum also hopes to foster creativity and active problem-solving skills, the lack of which is a point of criticism for current modes of education in India. As the museum’s website asserts, “We believe that children need to be encouraged to make mistakes, dream together, celebrate learning, share knowledge and think collaboratively,” which translates into the immersive design of dedicated areas such as Engagement, Reading, Play, Discovery and Making within the museum. Vertically zoned—conducive to Mumbai’s urban fabric where land is scarce—the first six floors are open to the public and include infrastructural facilities such as parking and a library for children. Unfolding like the chapters in a kid’s pop-up book, the seventh floor is where the museum’s programmatic functions begin with the Play floor.

Engagement and Play

A portal transports you to a land where science comes alive. The Play floor incorporates elements, murals and interactive installations that allow children to interact with STEM concepts rather than just read about them, enabling them to think through a problem and test their solutions. Divided into areas called Air Play, Build It, Create It, Big Moves and Water Play, the interior design encourages engagement and demands it even. The vivid colour schemes, sculptures, wheezing toys, pulleys and ramps ensure that not a moment spent in the children’s playscape feels dull.

While Air Play introduces concepts of physics such as aerodynamics and Bernoulli's principle, the Build zone is where children can design and test their objects. Other installations such as Water Play inform kids about the applications of science in everyday life, particularly raising awareness of how water travels from one place to another and our homes. However, the most engaging addition to the Play zone is the Luckey Climber, a three-storey high interactive installation that children can climb, dynamically encouraging teamwork and observation. Notably, the zone includes glass facades ensuring a connection to the outside as well as natural light.

Play leads to Discovery

Fluid walls inducing the dynamism of water lead visitors into the Discover zone, with wave-like partitions that inform one about the vital role of water in our daily lives. Inducing a sense of curiosity, the exhibition space includes multiple immersive and experiential displays to enhance an understanding and learning of real-world issues, with a focus on problem-solving and sustainable thinking. The problem of water while ubiquitous, is particularly contextual to Mumbai, a city that is inhabited by local communities dependent on the sea for their livelihood and also a city faced with the threat of sinking into the sea apart from acute water shortages.

Hence, the focus of the displays on the Koli communities, the Mithi River and the city’s endangered mangroves is notable. Apart from murals, decals and interactive installations that inform visitors of these issues, the zone also includes an immersive theatre. The layout for the zone highlights the core mission of the building, to inspire a sense of empathy while making certain that learning is collaborative and engaging. While the Play floor allows children to apply what they have learned in school to real life and the Discover floor allows a more contextual understanding of conceptual problems like pollution, the Make floor allows children to run wild with their creativity.

To do is to Make

A decal on the floor of the Make Zone presents visitors with a manifesto, "There’s a maker in us all: As long as you can imagine and scheme, your hands can make anything you dream. So come on ahead, above all taking on challenges with others who are just as daring! It’s about playing, tinkering and sharing.” Underscoring the primary intentions of the space, it also highlights an overarching need for museums and cultural spaces such as this: to enable creativity and thinking outside the proverbial box. Batliboi elaborates, “The Make zone was one way of looking at contribution, enabling the kids to physically make things and propose solutions.”

Divided into three types of programmes—Sparks, Missions and Quests—the open and flexible layout of the space ensures that various configurations for different types of activities are possible. The introduction of the Make lab warrants that the museum's prime focus is on encouraging active solutions through primary engagement.

Through the design of the various spaces, the goal is not only to raise ‘mindful citizens of tomorrow’ but also to introduce topics such as sustainability, pollution and the depletion of our planet’s resources in ways that are relatable not only to children but adults alike. Speaking about the need for a museum dedicated veritably to solutions, Batliboi reasserts that the idea is not to become a storehouse of answers but to foster them through a sense of care and responsibility towards our future. "Empathy is the first thing. Unless you encourage that, you are not going to do anything. So, feel. Imagine. Do and share,” he shares emphatically.

The museum can do this through clever use of technology such as digital tools and interactive objects in a way that the architecture recedes and the tools become an active layer for visitors to bring the spaces alive. Further, the architects emphasise the particular focus on design for children exercised in the project. Ergonomic details such as handrails and washbasins are installed to ensure the space is accessible to children and their needs, thus creating a kid-centric world.

Speaking about the project, Tanvi Jindal Shete, the Founder of the Museum of Solutions and Director of JSW Foundation, shares, “I’ve held on to the belief that learning should be meaningful and fun for all children. So when I decided to establish MuSo, I dreamt of a space where children will be inspired, enabled and empowered to make meaningful change in the world, together.” Brimming over with the screeches and laughter of children engaged in play and learning, the project not only embodies a new museum but a cabinet of curiosities. It becomes a space where children become adults and adults can indulge in the play of children.

Project Details

Name: Museum of Solutions
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Site Area: 1370 sq.m
Built Area: 9650 sq.m
Design team:
Architecture & Interior Design: Ratan J Batliboi - Consultants Pvt Ltd. and Bricolage Bombay
Consultants:
Structural Consultant: Sterling Engineering
MEP: Grune Design
MEP Consultant: INI
Electronics: Xenium Electricals
Graphic Design & Branding: Brewhouse
LEED Rating: EdEn
Sound and Acoustics: Munro Acoustics
Landscape Design: Parag Mody
Set Designer - Discover Lab: Swapnali Das
Exhibit Design - Play Lab: Argyle Design
Exhibit Fabricator - Play Lab: Huettinger
Exhibit Design - Discover Lab: Grumpy Sailor
Exhibit Fabricator - Discover Lab: Harsh Kawa
Brand Story & Education Exhibit Design: Tropic
Principal Construction Partners: JSW Realty, JSW Paints and JSW Cements