Expansion Project: The Building

The Museum has embarked on an exciting journey that will bring the joys of nature and science to millions of people. The new Perot Museum of Nature & Science in Victory Park in downtown Dallas will inspire all ages and will serve as a complement to the Museum's existing Fair Park facility. It will invigorate Dallas by drawing visitors to the region, while providing an opportunity for guests to experience spectacular exhibitions never before seen in North Texas. A new facility is crucial if the Museum is to keep pace with the breathtaking advances in the delivery of informal science education for children and families.

The Location

The 4.7 acre site is located at the NW corner of Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Field Street, in Victory Park. The Museum will be situated at the crossroads of the future Trinity River Corridor Project, the Arts District, the West End, Uptown, and other popular attractions including the Sixth Floor Museum.

 

The Architect

After an international search, MNS announced the selection of Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis as architect for the new Museum in early 2008.

 

Thom Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972. The Santa Monica, California-based firm currently boasts more than 40 architects and designers.

 

Distinguished honors include: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Award (2006), Pritzker Prize Laureate (2005), Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy of Design in Rome (1987), and 25 Progressive Architecture Awards, 70 American Institute of Architects Awards and numerous other design recognitions.

 

Thom Mayne remains committed to developing a critical practice where creative output engages the contemporary discourse of the discipline through both architectural design, and writing. With his firm, Mayne has consistently sought new and different design problems to solve and has resisted becoming specialized in any particular building "type."

 

The solution to each individual design problem is always approached from a fresh beginning. As a result of this interest and commitment, Mr. Mayne's work ranges from designs for watches and teapots to designs for large-scale buildings such as Federal Courthouses to innovative urban design and planning schemes that reshape entire cities.

Landscape Design

The landscape design is created by Dallas-based landscape architecture firm, Talley Associates, and it serves as an extension of the building design. It is thoroughly integrated with the ground floor lobby and café spaces via the plaza areas, and the overall design character will give visitors a feeling of the seamless merger between the natural landscape and man-made environment of the building.

Key features include:

• An acre of rolling roofscape comprised of native drought-resistant grasses which reflect Texas' indigenous landscape
• A large shady grove of East Texas native canopy trees
• An assortment of native flowering plants surrounding the roofdeck terrace of of the Museum lobby
• Three prominent water features on the plazas
• A planted bioswale that extends the length of the parking lot and captures runoff-water for the cistern system

Sustainability

One core value of the new Museum is to demonstrate sustainability. This means a building that will be sustainable both in terms of its design and construction as well as one that is efficient to operate over the longer term.

A few of the environmentally-friendly features include:

• Choice of an optimal site: former brownfield, close to public transportion, pedestrian and bike path friendly
• Sustainable podium roof emphasizing native plant materials
• Rainwater collection system (site and roof drainage) filling 50,000-gallon cisterns to supply irrigation system
• Solar-powered hot water heating
• Material choices emphasizing recycled and locally sourced materials

Working with local architecture firm, Good Fulton & Farrell, as our sustainability consultants, MNS is registered and working on three green building certification programs:

1. LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - is the most well known green building accreditation. It rates a project's site choice and site use, water efficiency, material choices, and energy use. MNS also hopes to earn points for using the building as a demonstration project for our visitors. The Museum's minimum goal was a LEED Silver rating, but based on current designs and choices, MNS is hopeful the building will be able to attain a Gold ranking.
2. Green Globes is a newer ranking system and MNS would be one of the first buildings in the DFW area to attain this certification. It focuses to a larger degree on optimizing building consumption over the longer term.
3. Sustainable Sites Initiative - MNS has registered for this pilot program which focuses on green landscape design and ongoing maintenance and operations.

Visitor Amenities

The new Museum is designed with visitor amenities that may be enjoyed by all visitors who come to the Museum, including visitors who may be visiting the area but not necessarily buying a ticket into the Museum gallery spaces.

These visitor amenities include:

• A landscape design featuring three water features on the plazas, a large shady grove of Native Texas trees, and seating areas on the plaza
• A state-of-the-art 3D digital theater which will present a wide array of films as well as serve as a venue for MNS to host speakers and panel discussions
• An interior café and outdoor dining spaces on the plaza serving tasty and healthy fare for Museum visitors and the downtown business lunch crowd
• An exciting and unique Museum store with items ranging from birthday presents that will delight younger children to niche products related to science and nature
• A roof terrace for visitors to examine the Museum's sustainable roof feature and enjoy the stunning Dallas skyline
• A beautiful glass-walled lobby featuring a Malawisaurus dinosaur - enjoyed by visitors daily and undoubtedly one of Dallas' premier special event venues.

Construction

Balfour Beatty

After assembling a world-class team, Balfour Beatty Construction was selected as our general contractor to manage the construction of the new Museum. To watch the progress, please visit our webcam here.

View The Progress of The Campaign »

MNS is an AAM accredited institution that is the result of the merger of the Dallas Museum of Natural History, The Science Place, and the Dallas Children's Museum, supported in part by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and HP.