A formal opening has been held for the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (SAASCC) in Kuwait – a mammoth cultural district for the country described as the largest museum project in the world.

A dramatic light show on Monday (5 February) marked the launch of the attraction, which has been designed by local architects SSH and British creative agency Cultural Innovations.

Situated on a 13-hectare site in the Al-Sha’ab district of Kuwait City, the complex has been developed in just five years and is part of the country’s strategy to create a new cultural quarter – a resource for schools and colleges and a major attraction for families from Kuwait, the Middle East and beyond.

It incorporates a quartet of museums – the Arabic Islamic Science Museum, the Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Science and Technology Museum – and a Theatre and Fine Arts Centre. Opening officially in phases over the next few months, they will together house 23 galleries over 22,000sq m (215,278sq ft), containing more than 800 exhibits.

Specific exhibitions and attractions will include a 4D ride through the body to fight germs, a replica walk-through experience of the International Space Station, a race against Usain Bolt to see how much energy you can burn and a virtual tour through Earth’s orbit on the Virgin Galactic.

There will also be a 120-seat Planetarium; a huge indoor living greenhouse themed as a Southeast Asian rainforest complete with a one-million-litre aquarium; an immersive camera obscura room; and intricate models of mosques from around the world.

The design brief requested “not a carbon copy of a museum or gallery from elsewhere, but specifically tailored to Kuwait”.

The four museums have been designed to work together and are connected by a shaded ‘street’. The development of external interpretation and exhibits brings a focus to each landscaped area, creating thematic links between the museums and the external spaces.

“We assembled a team of more than 140 people, with 30 content specialists focused on interpretation and content development, and 25 exhibition designers with additional expertise in graphics, lighting and audio-visual,” said Cultural Innovations CEO Martyn Best.

“An extensive range of experts have been assembled from universities, zoos, botanic gardens, museums and organisations such as the European Space Agency to ensure scientific facts and interpretation are correct.

“Having worked closely with architects SSH, we've delivered content that complements the quality of the phenomenal architectural spaces that have been created, delivering a project firmly rooted in Kuwait’s cultural vision and content that tells a compelling story.

"We've advised on making the visitor experience the best it can be, building in spaces for reflection and rest, as well as inspiring contemporary art and sculptures.

“We were well placed to respond to the client’s brief for this project due to our previous experience of delivering projects in the Middle East, including Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan. This was invaluable in giving us a cultural understanding of the region and the ability to deliver something relevant to audiences there.”

The SAASCC is itself part of an even wider development, the Kuwait National Cultural District – a cluster which also includes the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre, containing the largest opera house in the Middle East, and the Al Shaheed Park Museums close to the city centre.