Museum Of Science Renovations | 1 Science Park | West End

Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Both the MoS and the Aquarium need to be re-booted. Maybe they should merge?
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

^^ Good idea but it should be a 'behind the scenes' type merger. Share back-end and back office type functions only. From the outside they should look and behave like two separate organizations.

They're on top of a dam and a former MDC park, so I'd guess that they have a low- or no-cost long-term lease rather than owning the land.

^^ All the better, unless the State is putting the screws to them, which I can't see happening.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science said:
Under the leadership of Bradford Washburn, the Society negotiated with the Metropolitan District Commission for a 99-year lease of the land now known as Science Park. The Museum pays $1 a year to the state for use of the land.

Thanks, Wiki
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Next exciting "exhibit" at MoS: "Baseball and America".

Oh, yeah, that's science.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Next exciting "exhibit" at MoS: "Baseball and America".

Oh, yeah, that's science.
I think that they were thinking that, although not about science, it's better than having to close because they ran out of money.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Next exciting "exhibit" at MoS: "Baseball and America".

Oh, yeah, that's science.


Ben Affleck: Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week.
Matt Damon: I take it you haven't seen Forces of Nature?
Ben Affleck: You're like a child. What've I been telling you? You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture.

.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Google curveball AND physics -- there's quite a bit of applied science. Whether this is in the upcoming exhibit, I don't know.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

So neither of the renderings are great, but it's better than what's there. C7 focuses on the river facade, Fentmann or whatever on the street facade. But, as a science museum, you'd think this is a good place for a piece of stunning, modern futuristic architecture...not some lame glass ball+old bad brick.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Clearing up some misconceptions about the MOS

C& was involved in the original writing of the spec -- as far as I know they have some consultative role in overall strategy

The master planner for the facility is Fentress Bradburn (now Fentress Architects as Bradburn has retired) of Denver -- they've done the new Marine Corps Museum -- shaped like a glass tent stretched over the iconic flag from Iwo Jima and worked on the Denver and Doha Airports --- see www.fentressarchitects.com/boston for more

Gordon pumped his money ($20M) in and the Gordon Wing (education), Gordon Current Science and Tech Stage and Center and an exhibit focused on hands on engineering is in place -- in near record time

The rest seems to be waiting for more committed donors and that might mean the next late-phase of the up-business cycle (could be 4 or 5 years) before anything else starts to happen.

The next phase was supposed to be the Sky Theatre (aka Planetarium with a Butterfly Garden in the basement (-- some Federal Agriculture problems with containing the insects) -- this phase requires the demolition of the existing Planetarium building (still remnants exit from the 1950's)

However, if the MOS is over reaching on its internal bureaucracy growth -- there might be some rethinking -- a rumor is the "Hall of Human Life" is next in the former space on the 2nd floor Green Wing including the Nichols Gallery (traveling exhibits such as Baseball)

We will have to wait and see -- so far the Fentress Model and photos of various renderings are still sitting where they've been for about a year

Westy
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Boston Globe - July 15, 2008
A view to blow Boston away
Museum of Science wants to install wind turbines


By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff | July 15, 2008

It's an iconic view enjoyed by the throngs who flock to the Esplanade each day: the Longfellow Bridge stretching over the Charles River and the Zakim Bridge looming in the background. Now, the Museum of Science wants to add something new: wind turbines.

Museum officials are asking Boston and Cambridge officials for permission to erect nine wind turbines on the museum roof, a project they say will help educate the public and government agencies about the pros and cons of wind energy.

"Obviously, in a state like Massachusetts and in the nation, wind power is a hot and important topic," said David Rabkin, the museum's director of innovation, strategic partnerships, and sustainability, who is overseeing the project.

The turbines would produce some 20,000 kilowatt hours a year, enough to power three or four suburban homes, officials said, but not nearly enough to meet the museum's electricity needs. They estimate that the turbines would save $3,000 on the museum's $1 million annual power bill.

"We want to introduce the public to the thinking of wind turbines," Rabkin said. "But we also want to know what are the practical problems we face in the Boston area with the use of them. . . . Cities are trying to develop zoning laws, and there is no good data."

Five types of turbines would be installed, with none higher than the museum's central tower, which stands 155 feet tall. The largest of the proposed turbines, nearly 30 feet tall with a blade span of 18 feet, would sit on top of the Mugar Omni Theater.

The proposed turbines would be dwarfed by the turbine at the IBEW union hall adjacent to the Southeast Expressway, which is 150 feet tall, and the proposed Cape Wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, which are planned to be 260 feet tall.

Still, the tallest of the museum's proposed turbines is intended as a stark protrusion in the skyline, "silhouetted against the sky and highly visible from O'Brien Highway, the banks of the Charles, Longfellow Bridge, and even Route 93," according to plans filed with the city of Boston.

The others, though smaller, are supposed to make an impact, too.

"I do hope they'll be visible enough to make a statement," Rabkin said.

Museum officials began looking at wind technology two years ago, hoping to supply enough power to run the facility.

But a study concluded that fully converting to wind power was not financially feasible, and museum officials decided to shift the focus of the project from cost savings to education. (With an installation cost of some $300,000, the turbines will pay for themselves in about 100 years, museum officials said.)

Information collected from the windmills would be included in an expanded exhibit on wind power, with information about engineering, environmental impact, and operational issues. In addition, data on building vibration and the effect of the devices on birds and bats would help cities draft zoning and building code regulations for installing residential wind turbines, museum officials said.

Rabkin has been quietly meeting with community groups for the past few months, describing the proposal and listening to neighbors' concerns about noise and environmental impact.

"I think it's a great idea," said Duane Lucia, president of the West End Community Center, who attended a meeting last week about the project. "It's educational, and the fact that people are involved in giving feedback helps."

The museum has pledged that if the windmills are excessively noisy or harmful to wildlife, they will be adjusted or possibly removed. "This is a learning experience," Rabkin said. "Worst-case scenario, we'll take them down."

Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal will hear the matter at its July 29 meeting.

The Cambridge Zoning Board has not scheduled a hearing, but Rabkin said he expects it will happen sometime later this summer.

If approved by the fall, the turbines could be installed and running a year from now.

The museum, which has about 1.6 million visitors each year, would not be the first to install a turbine. The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland installed a 150-foot-tall wind turbine in 2006, and the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pa., has had one that is 102 feet tall since 2005.

Tania deLuzuriaga can be reached at deluzuriaga@globe.com.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Wow, deLuzuriaga is really sticking it to wind on the economic factor. I guess you can't be totally objective (or maybe he has aspirations to work for the Herald?)
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

If what he says is true what the does the MoS need NINE turbines? wouldn't one teach the kids just as well as nine? BTW doesn't IBEW's power one of their buildings? MoS can only get 9 to power 3 houses? That's a bit self-defeating.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

If what he says is true what the does the MoS need NINE turbines? wouldn't one teach the kids just as well as nine? BTW doesn't IBEW's power one of their buildings? MoS can only get 9 to power 3 houses? That's a bit self-defeating.
The proposed turbines would be dwarfed by the turbine at the IBEW union hall adjacent to the Southeast Expressway, which is 150 feet tall,

And I would imagine (or at least hope) that each turbine showcase a different technology. That way they can study which type of turbine would have the greatest impact.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Ok the largest one is going to be 30 ft tall, so they're going to be mini turbines. Still it just seems like a half assed idea. I haven't been to the MoS in easily over a decade so my memory is a little hazy, but can't they put them in the back lawn instead of on top of the buildings? Its going to look like a carnival. Either that or actually build a real turbine (one). IBEW's isn't that tall at all really.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I'm in favor of it, so long as they include a tilting path for ArchBoston members.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Small potatoes as usual from Museum of Science. This place would seem paltry in Cedar Rapids.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

I'm in favor of it, so long as they include a tilting path for ArchBoston members.

That went right over my head when I first read it this morning.

Although ablarc's comment right below makes for a nice dovetail. :)
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

If what he says is true what the does the MoS need NINE turbines? wouldn't one teach the kids just as well as nine? BTW doesn't IBEW's power one of their buildings? MoS can only get 9 to power 3 houses? That's a bit self-defeating.

Yeah, but the IBEW doesn't have to power Leonard Nimoy's voice.
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Update:
Boston?s Museum of Science said Wednesday it is building a wind-turbine laboratory on its roof, the first such lab in the nation to be constructed on a museum rooftop.

The lab, a part of the museum?s green initiative, will demonstrate small wind turbines that could be erected on small businesses and homes. When completed, five turbines ? ranging between 40 feet and seven feet in height ? will rest on the museum?s roof. Two of the turbines are operational on the Cambridge side of the building, with the other three to be installed on the Boston side this summer.

?This is a giant science experiment,? says David Rabkin, Farinon Director for current science and technology at the museum, in a prepared written statement. ?No one has tested five different small turbines in a rooftop laboratory. Although there?s lots of interest in small-scale wind turbines, we found little data on their performance and impact. Despite a year of collecting data on the wind at the Museum, we still don?t really know enough about the turbines to predict their performance.?

The lab came out of early efforts to use wind to meet a portion of the museum?s energy needs. Studies showed the area?s wind resources were not strong enough to generate meaningful electricity, so the museum and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative?s Renewable Energy Trust refocused the project to provide information to potential turbine owners on differences in design and function of various turbines.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/05/25/daily34.html

From the Museum's web site:
This Summer, Watch the Museum of Science Roofline Change as it Mounts the Nation's First Rooftop Wind Turbine Lab
Press Release [Return to listing page]


May 27, 2009

Download Press Release (PDF)
?science experiment for the public to explore the potential of wind power?


BOSTON?In partnership with the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, the Museum of Science, Boston is installing the nation's first museum-based rooftop Wind Turbine Lab this summer. As the centerpiece of its new Catching the Wind exhibit, the Museum began installation of nine wind turbines of five different types during Earth Month 2009. A symbol of the Museum's Green Initiative that will change the Cambridge-Boston skyline, the lab will demonstrate turbines that small businesses and homeowners can mount on their own roofs, while generating valuable experience to help government officials and renewable energy professionals make informed decisions about projects and policy.


The first two turbines are now in place on the Cambridge side of the Museum's roof. Over the summer, people will also see three other kinds of turbines being mounted on the Museum's Boston side. One type, a bank of five smaller turbines, will be visible only from the Charles River. The largest of the five types is 40 feet tall; the smallest, about seven feet - with 5- to 18-foot diameters.


"The Museum of Science's turbine project will be an extraordinary learning tool for everyone who visits the Museum," says Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. "This project will give us the information we need to debate the benefits of turbines in an urban environment and move forward on the technology front. I commend the Museum for helping maintain our state's reputation as an innovator of renewable energy technology." Intended to be a powerful teaching tool, the Museum project is both a public exhibit on wind energy and a laboratory, yielding original research data on the effectiveness of five small building-integrated turbines.


A Learning Experience

"This is a giant science experiment," says David Rabkin, Farinon Director for Current Science and Technology at the Museum. "No one has tested five different small turbines in a rooftop laboratory. Despite a year of collecting wind data, we still don't really know how much power they will generate. Although there's lots of interest in small-scale wind turbines, we found little data on their performance and impact." The Museum will investigate their strengths and weaknesses by monitoring local wind conditions and wind power generation data. Presenting the differences in design and function of five kinds of wind technologies and what one needs to consider in using them, the project will engage the public in critical thinking about an important source of renewable energy.


The Museum initially explored wind turbines as a way of generating clean electricity and creating a compelling complement to a wind power exhibit. But a year-long study by Boreal Renewable Energy Development of Arlington, MA, showed the Museum site to have limited wind resources and to pose engineering and permitting challenges. As a result, the Museum and the Renewable Energy Trust refocused the project on generating as much practically useful information and experience as possible.


The Museum will share all of its findings through interactive displays, programs, a website, and other outreach to the public including the companies whose innovative technologies are being tested. Thus the project serves both as education for the general public and as a resource for renewable energy professionals, building managers, and government officials.


Inside the Museum at the Catching the Wind exhibit, visitors can find out how and why the turbines produce electricity, while also monitoring the turbines in real time and tracking the data since their installation. Visitors can literally feel how strong the wind needs to blow to turn a turbine and generate electricity using interlocking gears. After learning about what to consider when selecting and siting a turbine, visitors can try their hand at the Wind Power Challenge game, choosing a location and a turbine type to see if it could power their home, business, or community. Visitors will discover the stories of several different sites across Massachusetts where turbines were?and were not?installed, including the Museum's own case study. A map of Massachusetts identifies the windier areas of the state.


A Commitment to Sustainability

"The Commonwealth is pleased to support, through the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, the Museum of Science in development of its new Wind Turbine Lab," says Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles. "An exhibit featuring working wind turbines at this popular landmark will help to educate the public about wind energy at a critical time, as we advance toward Governor Patrick's goal for 2,000 megawatts of installed wind power in Massachusetts by 2020."


Building the country's first museum-based wind turbine lab involved immense challenges from the start. In addition to obtaining variances and permitting for both Cambridge and Boston, the three-year project involved selecting and siting the turbines to maximize wind exposure, visibility, and safety in five different "microclimates." Each turbine was its own engineering project. The Museum also worked with its neighbors, community groups, the Charles River Conservancy, the Charles River Watershed Association, the cities of Boston and Cambridge, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and many other groups to assess the turbines' impact on the neighborhood, local zoning, and area wildlife. Unlike the "not in my backyard" response to some industrial turbines, the Museum's project has elicited public support from neighbors and the cities.


"We are thrilled to share the results of our rooftop engineering project with the public," says the Museum's president and director, Ioannis Miaoulis, "and we hope it inspires them to learn more about the engineering involved in creating some of the latest wind power technologies and the skills we need to decide when to use them."


Estimated Power and Costs

"At our site and with today's economy, we need to think of the project as an exhibit and science experiment with some economic payback, not a business proposition," says Rabkin. Small turbines, like those on the Museum roof, costing from $5,000 to $40,000, can generate up to 6 kilowatts?enough to power a home or a small business. (Large turbines, like those in the Nantucket Sound's Cape Wind project, have rotors reaching 300 feet in diameter generating up to 5 megawatts of power). The Museum hopes to generate enough electricity to power two or three suburban homes, only a fraction of the Museum's total power use. Because of its complexity, the lab will cost about $300,000.


While there's uncertainty about how the turbines will perform, the Museum's best estimate is that each of its turbines might produce the following percentage of electricity used in a typical American home:


> Mariah Power Windspire: about 15% (with a 1.2kW at-peak vertical-axis turbine about 10 meters high)

> Southwest SkyStream 3.7: about 22% (with a downwind, horizontal-axis, 1.9kW design and a 3.7 meter rotor diameter)

> Cascade Engineering Swift: about 18% (with a 1.5kW upwind, horizontal-axis and a 2.1 meter diameter, featuring unique rotor and tail designs)

> A bank of five AeroVironment AVX1000 turbines: about 60% (a directional design for building parapets to take advantage of higher speed winds rushing up and over buildings, each unit rated at 1kW peak with a 1.5 meter diameter)

> The Proven 6: almost 75% (with a 6kW downwind, horizontal axis and a 5.5 meter rotor diameter)


The Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey, the Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, Ohio, all feature individual wind turbines, some as high as 150 feet, but the Museum of Science is the only museum testing five different types and experimenting with roof installation.


Support

The Wind Turbine Lab is made possible with support from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and the Charles Sumner Bird Foundation with additional support from Keren Schlomy, Esq., Rubin and Rudman LLP, and New England Wind Systems. Special thanks to Boreal Renewable Energy Development, Titan Electric Corporation, the Cities of Boston and Cambridge, MA Audubon, the Charles River Conservancy, the Charles River Watershed Association, and the communities of East Cambridge and Boston's West End.


Catching the Wind is made possible by support from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust with funding from Bank of America and the Charles Sumner Bird Foundation. Additional support has been provided by: ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), Holy Name Central Catholic Junior Senior High School, Massachusetts Port Authority, Newton South High School, Andrew Stern, the Town of Hull, and TRC Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRR).


Both the exhibit and Wind Turbine Lab are also supported by a gift from the Francis Wright Davis Fund.


The exhibit is ongoing and included with regular Exhibit Halls admission: $19 for adults, $17 for seniors (60+), and $16 for children (3-11). For more information, the public can call 617/723-2500, (TTY) 617/589-0417, or visit mos.org.
http://www.mos.org/visitor_info/museum_news/press_releases&d=3336
 
Re: Museum Of Science Renovation/ Addition

Boston Globe - July 17, 2009
The ages of science
Boston museum must keep following and also keep up

By David Filipov, Globe Staff | July 17, 2009

When officials at the Museum of Science realized that the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing was fast approaching, they had another realization that was more alarming than celebratory: Their exhibit of space modules was 45 years old and, given the onslaught of millions of children, looked every day of it.

The urgent push to update the exhibit over the last several weeks, with a coat of fresh paint, refurbished interiors, and flat panel televisions airing rare footage of Neil Armstrong?s descent onto the moon, vividly highlights the challenge for a venerable - and still popular - institution that is very much showing its age. Like other science museums across the nation, Boston?s is trying to maintain a following in a world where scientific breakthroughs happen at breakneck speed and expectations for entertainment are geared to three dimensions rather than narrated videos.

Sometimes it is hard just to keep up. ?Science changes, our audience changes, they?re more sophisticated in how they acquire information,?? said Paul Fontaine, vice president for education at the museum. ?And the institution changes.??

To make that change happen, Fontaine said, the museum is completing an audit to see which exhibits to remove - the ones he referred to as ?orphaned?? exhibits ?whose time has drawn near to the end.??

The ravages of time are visible all over the 58-year-old building. Grimy earphones, scratchy audio, blurred video, and crotchety computer graphics betray the advancing years of many of the 700 exhibits. A fascinating film about Navajo code-talkers in World War II features a statement by President Reagan. Monitors that explore extraterrestrial intelligence look terminally clunky. The development of a thunderstorm is explained with wallpaper and speakers.

But nothing highlights the age of the Museum of Science quite like the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, a $165 million facility that opened in June, and mixes science with state-of-the-art technology in an approach that feels as much like a theme park as a museum.

There, the space exhibit lets visitors program their own narrated flight around planets, black holes, and the sun, and over the surface of Mars. The health and sports wing features an interactive board game where players make choices about how various foods, behaviors, and activities affect their life expectancy. Viewers take lessons on stretching and strength building from a flat screen video that stars a physical trainer who looks like one of the cadavers from ?Body Worlds?? come to life.

Even the glass elevators are part of the experience, allowing visitors to see the mechanics of the lift as well as sweeping views of the Connecticut River. It is like the fireballing young hurler who shows up the ace of the staff and his declining skills. In science, as in baseball, age matters.

?Science is a subject matter that is intimidating,?? said Matt Fleury, president and chief executive officer, explaining the center?s approach. ?Let?s create something that expresses enthusiasm for science that is compelling for people to say, ?Let?s go see what?s in there.? ??

The Museum of Science in Boston - where 1.5 million people pour through the doors every year - is also trying to create an entry point into scientific discoveries, just without many of the whiz-bang gizmos of a newer museum. To attract children and adults who come looking for cool things to do - and not just to look at cool things - the museum is relying on live presentations by in-house educators and visiting scientists, and traveling interactive exhibits about what is going on now, rather than large replicas of what once was. It is an approach from which other museums - including the one in Hartford - have borrowed, and it is wildly successful.

Accompanying the opening of the renovated ?To The Moon?? exhibit is a traveling exposition, ?Black Holes: Space Warps and Time Twists,?? which simulates a space mission and educates visitors about recent discoveries about how black holes behave. A lecturer will give the latest about missions in search of water or possible life on Mars. Another presentation will describe potential missions to send humans back to the moon.

The museum?s partnerships with research universities and companies that employ groundbreaking science allow it to learn about breakthroughs and interpret them for the public. For example, in response to a recent report that showed how certain plastics interact with the body, the museum produced a live presentation within days. An exhibit on nanotechnology draws on the expertise of a network of science and research institutions to show how the manipulation of atoms and molecules can create a wide range of new materials and technologies, from stain-resistant clothes to therapies that kill cancer cells without harming nearby cells.

?You do have that obligation if you want to be current,?? said Wayne M. Bouchard, chief operating officer of the Museum of Science. ?It?s going to be your reputation for quality of what you do on the floor, the kind of interactions that you have, the educators that are walking the floors. That?s what?s going to keep people coming.??

Museums comparable to Boston?s face the same conundrum as they try to stay ahead of the curve. ?This question of how you maintain relevancy in an era when science and technology change at such a rapid pace is really the Holy Grail of science at this time,?? said Kurt Haunfelner, vice president of exhibits and collections at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He said new exhibits can accommodate the fast-changing and interactive nature of science - such as a frequently updated 2,600-square-foot home made entirely of eco-friendly products, where browsing visitors can pick up ideas for making their homes greener.

The key, science museum leaders say, is to develop exhibits that can be updated as quickly as science progresses.

?If we were to discover new form of life on Mars we could have an exhibit exploring those ideas within hours,?? said Eric Jolly, president of the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. Within 24 hours after the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004, the museum had retrofitted its 40-foot wave tank and its seismophone - a massive musical sculpture that chimes when there is seismic activity anywhere on earth - to explain what happened.

At the same time, museums feel an obligation to maintain the iconic exhibits that have drawn in customers for decades - the ones Bouchard calls ?the classics.?? In Boston, these include the planetarium, the massive Van der Graaf generator in the electricity theater, and the dinosaur exhibit. ?Some people will come looking for the thing that was here 25 years ago,?? Bouchard said. ?If we were to lose that exhibit, we would hear from families saying, ?How dare you?? ??

These, the museum tries to fix up rather than throw out. The electricity show now features the latest theories on lightning. And when the museum received on long-term loan Cliff the Triceratops - one of the most complete skeletons of the Cretaceous-era herbivore - it took the opportunity to update the rest of its dinosaur section.

Then again, some installations, no matter how out of date, still captivate young audiences.

A hopelessly dilapidated one that teaches about the sense of smell requires visitors to sniff from unsavory-looking canisters and then match the odors with storefronts on a 1970s-style display.

It does not look very inviting, but on a recent rainy day, children streamed to it, inhaling the smells, pressing the buttons, and pointing to the tired graphics with delight.

David Filipov can be reached at filipov@globe.com.
 

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