This week London's Science Museum will open The Winton Gallery, a new space dedicated to the study and exploration of mathematics, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. While this is the practice's first permanent public museum exhibition, it also represents the first UK project to open since the death of its eponymous founder and director.

© Luke Hayes

This week London's Science Museum will open The Winton Gallery, a new space dedicated to the study and exploration of mathematics, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. While this is the practice's first permanent public museum exhibition, it also represents the first UK project to open since the death of its eponymous founder and director.Inspired by the Handley Page aircraft, the design of the space was conceived through observing equations of airflow used in the aviation industry. The layout and lines of the gallery therefore represents the movement of air that would have flowed around this historic aircraft in flight ? a metaphor which extends from the positioning of the showcases and benches to the three-dimensional curved surfaces of the central pod structure.
© Luke Hayes

Positioned at the center of the gallery is the Handley Page ?Gugnunc? aeroplane, built in 1929 for a competition to construct an aircraft which could operate safely. According to the Science Museum, "ground-breaking aerodynamic research influenced the wing design of this experimental aeroplane, helping to shift public op...