Le Vaisseau

This guide to Le Vaisseau in Strasbourg traces how children at a summer camp near Wangenburg gave the future science museum its name around the year 2000, before the building even existed on paper. It follows architects Bernard Weixler and Francois Rohmer, whose winning design made the whole structure a single transparent, one-story hall so no child would feel small, through groundbreaking in 2003 to opening day. Inside, animals wait to be handled rather than watched, and a water gallery lets you get wet testing exhibits yourself before a workshop called Lab'Oh, built for taking things apart just to see how they work.