Museum Of Science Renovations | 1 Science Park | West End

[Justin7]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Science a boondoggle.

 

[Tombstoner]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Neither of those Miami museums look like they are going to age well, though the art museum certainly fits the context.

They must be close together as they have the same background skyscrapers in the rendering.

 

[found5dollar]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I actually like the current look of the science museum. The kind of Scandinavian modernism gives the building a stately appearance i think. Kind of like a high school science teacher!

 

[metasyntactic]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I agree with found5dollar. It's not the most beautiful or inspiring building, but I think the current MoS building has its own appeal. I'd rather the museum spend its finances improving the exhibits --- the section on computers seems pretty weak for example (too bad the Computer Museum went to California).

The last time I was at the museum, it was enjoyable but the exhibits definitely paled in comparison to, say, the California Academy of Sciences.

 

[Toucano]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Neither of those Miami museums look like they are going to age well, though the art museum certainly fits the context.

They must be close together as they have the same background skyscrapers in the rendering.

They will be adjacent to each other on the waterfront "Museum Park" formerly known as Bicentennial Park.

The MAM is already under construction and the Museum of Science just secured a $35M private donation and will be named the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I agree with found5dollar. It's not the most beautiful or inspiring building, but I think the current MoS building has its own appeal. I'd rather the museum spend its finances improving the exhibits --- the section on computers seems pretty weak for example (too bad the Computer Museum went to California).

The last time I was at the museum, it was enjoyable but the exhibits definitely paled in comparison to, say, the California Academy of Sciences.

The one thing I really don't like about the MoS is the lack of light inside. It's like you're in a cave the entire time. The Blue Wing's atrium is impressive, but overall dark. The exhibits are also showing their age. It just feels old. IBM's Mathematica is cool as all hell to us geeks, but it's not as relevant today as it was when it was first installed. They need to freshen things up AND preserve the past. And yes, the computer section is TERRIBLE. They're still doing the same "Color your own GIF file" that they were doing at least 10 years ago. Last time I was there, they still had the iMacs running OS8 too. Seriously? iMacs? C'mon, MoS. I miss that giant walk-in computer that the Computer Museum had too. My dad used to take me all the time.

 

[porter]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

The reason that cambridge building looks so good in black and white is for just that reason, it's not colored. In reality that building has ugly yellowish cladding. It also helps seeing it from a distance because this building also lacks any sort of art-deco detailing up close.

 

[found5dollar]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind...or_hall_of_human_life/srvc=home&position=also

Museum of Science lands $5M state grant for Hall of Human Life
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Museum of Science, Boston, will begin construction this summer on the Hall of Human Life, expected to be one of the museum’s largest and most far-reaching exhibits.

Opening in July 2013, the 10,000-square-foot exhibit is designed to evolve with the accelerating breakthroughs in biology and biotechnology and spark visitors’ curiosity about innovations in the life sciences, address their concerns about health care, and help them develop the skills needed to make informed choices.

“This project will create jobs, advance knowledge of human biology, and inspire young people to pursue careers in the life sciences, key to positioning Massachusetts as a world leader in the life sciences,” Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement.

The exhibit, which is expected to create up to 20 new jobs at the museum, will be made possible partly by a $5 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with implementing the state’s 10-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, proposed by Patrick in 2007 and passed by the Legislature in 2008.

The Museum of Science more than matched the grant by raising more than $11 million in supplemental funding.

One of the oldest and largest science museums in the United States, the museum has about 1.5 million visitors annually.
-— mszaniszlo@bostonherald.com

 

[whighlander]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind...or_hall_of_human_life/srvc=home&position=also

Here's a bit more from the MOS press release:

http://www.mos.org/visitor_info/museum_news/press_releases&d=5382

"January 26, 2012

Boston, Mass.— With a $5 million grant that was awarded yesterday by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), the Museum of Science, Boston can begin construction of a timely new exhibit, the Hall of Human Life (HHL), starting this summer. Envisioned as one of the Museum's largest and most far-reaching exhibits, the Hall of Human Life, opening in July 2013, aims to revolutionize how people understand their own biology and manage their health. Designed to evolve with the accelerating breakthroughs in biology and biotechnology, this 10,000-square-foot exhibit will spark visitors' curiosity about innovations in the life sciences, address their concerns about health care, and help them develop the thinking skills needed to make informed choices.....

Visitors will enter the Hall of Human Life through a huge, semi-transparent membrane. By wearing a wristband featuring a unique (and anonymous) barcode, visitors will be able to record and contribute their own experiences directly to a Museum database. Museum-goers will measure their responses to five dynamic environments related to food, physical forces, living organisms, social experience, and time. The Hall of Human Life will also feature a Provocative Questions area, where visitors will discuss public policy questions about socio-scientific issues to develop critical thinking skills, and a Living Laboratory, where scientists conducting research in human biology will invite visitors to become subjects and learn about their studies. The Exploration Hub will sit at the heart of the exhibit, where Museum educators, health and biology students, and retired researchers will address visitors' questions and assist in experiments and dissections.......

The Hall of Human Life is part of the Museum's first comprehensive capital campaign, transforming over half of the Museum's 130,000-square-feet of gallery space. With this $5 million grant, the Museum has raised more than $182 million -- and is well on its way to meeting its $250 million campaign goal by 2015. The campaign supports exhibits, programs, and facility improvements that explore the duality of our natural and human-made worlds. The Museum's Blue and Green Wings will be transformed into the Designed and Natural Worlds, respectively, to tell one unified story by focusing on their extraordinary connections, sustainability, and interdependencies. "

But don't expect too much on the exterior -- the earlier major renovation of the external physical plant has been dumped in favor of some minor construction to improve the connectivity and flow through the museum complex and to project a "Green-ness" to the Monsignor O'Brien Highway side

 

[stellarfun]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

From behind today's Boston Globe paywall:

New $21 million gallery, called the Yawkey Gallery, will be three stories, and focus on ecosystems. Construction will either start in 2015, or the gallery will open then.

A 10,000 sq ft Hall of Human Life is under construction, and will open in November.

After the Yawkey Gallery is built, there will be another new gallery on the evolution of technology in human life.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ExbuDMPv6lJWTVxqL/story.html?p1=Well_BG_Links

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Is this all interior construction, in the existing building?

 

[PaulC]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

There's more info and pics at the architect's site:

http://www.c7a.com/work/museum-of-science-boston

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Are they proposing building some sort of green, living wall around the exterior? Cuz that's dope.

 

[PaulC]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

yes.

Building on the Museum's use and exhibition of the Wind Turbine Lab and Solar Photovoltaic Cells, the Campaign's sustainability priorities include installation of a cistern and swale system to harvest and cleanse rainwater from our rooftops for use in our restrooms. In addition, the Museum's parking garage will benefit from a greenwall makeover, with live vegetation that will decrease storm water runoff and provide a layer of natural sound insulation and cooling shade.

http://www.mos.org/campaign/facilities-and-sustainability

 

[Arlington]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Is this all interior construction, in the existing building?

That's the impression I get--that this is mostly about renovating the Green Wing on the inside and draping plants on the outside.

 

[czsz]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

That looks really cool from street level. From far away, though, I wonder if the Museum will wind up looking like some kind of landfill mound.

 

[Semass]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I hope it ends up looking like the living wall on the musée du quai Branly. That would be really rad.

Now THAT would make Boston City Hall or the Hurley Building actually work and look totally awesome.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

What I'd really like to see is the walkway extended all the way alongside the garage, so that people could walk behind the museum instead of in front of it to get from Cambridge to Boston.

 

[Arlington]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

What I'd really like to see is the walkway extended all the way alongside the garage, so that people could walk behind the museum instead of in front of it to get from Cambridge to Boston.

Great idea! As we noted in the North Bank Bridge discussion (about access to the river on the *other* side of the viaduct) there's a huge potential for waterfront-access and small walkability enhancements in this area (even around the MDC 'wagon barns' on the corner there too).

From the Longfellow Bridge, past the Galleria Mall and the Sonesta, all the way to Science Park and Lechmere, and the EF Park and Charlestown there could/should be way better bike/pedestrian circulation, and the MOS sits astride a key accessway/choke-point.

I'd hope that the MOS & Cambridge would consider bike amenities (like covered parking and a repair station).

 

[George_Apley]

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

^ Better connectivity behind the Museum riverside is part of the Esplanade master plan, although so is replacing the garage with a giant Ferris Wheel so...