The shimmering torus-shaped museum of the future in Dubai is covered in Arabic calligraphy and is supported by a steel diagrid(构架), with a facade(建筑物正面) of 1,024 steel panels. The aviation industry provided inspiration for the technology needed to create the exterior that was developed using learning algorithms.

“All the parameters(参数)     1     (put) into a program structurally, and eventually it learned to create this shape,” says architect Shaun Killa.

    2     (open) in February 2022, the building is an iconic addition to Dubai’s already dramatic skyline, which includes the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. These modern, globally recognizable structures have made a name for Dubai’s architecture, but the story of Dubai’s urban views     3     (go) back to the 2000s. “Often the story is that since the 2000s it’s been a place of gleaming skyscrapers,” says architect and writer Todd Reisz, author of Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai. But the creative fusion seen in the architecture of structures like Killa’s Museum of the Future goes deeper.

“I think what     4     (have) the most influence on the city up to the present is the fact that it’s an entrepot, a port city,” says Reisz. “I’s a place of exchange and in-betweenness, where not only things and people come in and out, but so do ideas.” That exchange of ideas has led to some of the world’s most ambitious architectural projects—    5     Killa has played an outsize role.

Killa first arrived in Dubai from South Africa in 1998,     6     (join) architecture firm Atkins, where he worked on the Burj AI Arab—one of Dubai’s most famous buildings, which sits on an artificial island and is shaped like the sail of a yacht. “For an architect coming from Cape Town, the scale of the buildings was so much     7     (big),” Killa says of Dubai. “If you’re used to smaller projects, it’s quite a challenge to overcome that scale.” Killa went on     8     (work) on other major projects in Dubai such as the Dubai Opera, the Address Boulevard, and the Almas Tower, the tallest building in Dubai at the time.

With its unusual facade, the Museum of the Future, located in Dubai’s financial district features frequently on Instagram posts. And like the city     9    , it has become a place of exchange—an outsize space where people gather, marvel, and commune. “That enjoyment that I saw people having really filled me with something     10     was very special,” Killa says of the public reception to the museum. “The building has now been passed to them.”

3 . For almost every traveler, culture shock is unavoidable. But culture shock isn’t always a ________ thing. It can be an indication that you’re growing. The new ________ stretch your mind about the world—different languages, cultures, customs are just a few ways a travel culture shock can ________. If you’re able to ________ the culture shock, then you will be open to ________ these foreign experiences.

When I traveled to Egypt, I knew neither their language nor what to expect. All I ________ was it’s conservative. When I landed, I really felt as though I’d been ________ to another world. The biggest shock for me was the lack of ________ on the road, horses on the side transporting goods, three people ________ on a one-person motorcycle, four lanes but six cars crowding in—anything ________!

On the first night, something frightening happened. A very loud ________ voice went off at midnight. I felt ________ for the first few seconds until I realized it was the adhan(祷告). I then got used to it and admired the locals for the way they ________ their time to ensure they could complete the adhan.

As a woman, another ________ of mine was ensuring I followed the Egyptian dress styles and dressed ________. No matter how conservative my dress though, I couldn’t help but ________, especially with my bright red hair!

While I did get a bit of unwanted ________ (mostly by school girls wanting to take my picture), traveling definitely gave me a ________ cultural experience. I’ve since traveled several times and always managed to ________ things to be shocked about, but I love continually being surprised by the ________ of Egypt—the Nile and the mysterious pyramids!