Museum Expansion Project

The Case:
Encounters with natural history and science museums have impacted many of our nation’s greatest scientific thinkers.

• 85 percent of today’s scientists credit museums with providing their most memorable science experience.
• More than 50 percent of science- and engineering-degreed workers will retire in the next 20 years.
• 82 percent of American 12th-graders are not proficient in science.

The Expansion Project Vision:
The Museum has embarked on an exciting journey that will bring the joys of nature and science to millions of people. A vibrant new MNS 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, adjacent to 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.

Economic Impact:
Building the Museum in downtown Dallas will bring new energy and economic benefits to a section of the city primed for development. In the past several years, arts and cultural organizations in North Texas have generated more than $750 million in economic activity annually. The Museum will also be an add to this activity by becoming a premier attraction for Dallas visitors. The new facility will bring in world-renowned traveling exhibitions, drawing both international press and tourists to the region.

The Programming:
The building will be a center for education, exploration, and discovery. The approximately 150,000-sq.-ft facility will feature lively exhibits, vivid contextual displays of the Museum’s collections, the latest technology, multimedia presentations, and hands-on activities. The facility will offer dynamic exhibits on topics ranging from dinosaurs to DNA. The Museum will introduce new public programming for adults and families that will complement and enhance exhibitions and other museum activities as well as specialty programming that encourages school-aged children to pursue careers as scientists, educators, researchers, and engineers. Programming will include hands-on exploration areas, discovery stations, ongoing workshops, demonstrations, lectures and symposia, field trips, labs, ArtsReach programming, a teacher development center, a mobile learning lab, after-school classes, special interest clubs, summer study, and travel programs. Technology-based programming will include web site activities, interactive media in exhibits, and distance and online education programs.

The Campaign:
The Museum is conducting a $155M campaign to build the new facility. The campaign total includes: land, programming, exhibitions, building, and endowment. 

The Building and Architecture:
The Museum is putting together a strong team of strategic partners to develop the new facility from the inside out.

Renowned museum planning and design firm, Ralph Applebaum Associates, will provide strategic analysis and direction for the interior design of the new facility. Ralph Applebaum Associates have designed exhibits for many high-caliber museums, including The American Museum of Natural History in NYC and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.

The Museum has chosen 2005 Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne of LA based firm Morphosis as the architect for its new facility. To date Mayne’s most prominent projects include the Phare Tower in Paris; the Federal Building in San Francisco, Calif.; the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene, Ore.; the University of Cincinnati Campus Recreation Center in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank in Klagenfurt, Austria; and the Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, Calif.

Expansion Project Media Resources

For Media and PR Inquiries related to MNS Victory Park Expansion please contact Becky Mayad at bmayad@sbcglobal.net.

Press Kit Materials

Brochure — PDF
News release: Thom Mayne — HTML  |  PDF
News release: T. Boone Pickens — HTML  |  PDF
Fact sheet — HTML  |  PDF
Thom Mayne biography — HTML  |  PDF
Morphosis backgrounder — HTML  |  PDF
Expansion Donor List — HTML  |  PDF
Museum of Nature & Science backgrounder — HTML  |  PDF
Museum of Nature & Science map (graphic) — PDF
Victory Park backgrounder — HTML  |  PDF
Selections of Morphosis works (graphics) — PDF
What they?re saying about Thom Mayne — HTML  |  PDF
Thom Mayne quotes — HTML  |  PDF
Thom Mayne ? selected design recognition — HTML  |  PDF
Morphosis Bibliography — PDF

Important Information to Know

How to pronounce architect's name and firm:
Thom Mayne (tom main) of Morphosis (MOR phoh sis)

If you want to download images of Mayne and Morphosis’ works:
Go to ftp://archive:architect@ftp.morphosis.net/Nature%20and%20Science/

If you want to learn more about Thom Mayne and Morphosis:
Go to www.morphosis.net

If you (or your readers/viewers/listeners) want to learn more about Thom Mayne and Morphosis, check out this ongoing PBS series about the economics of being environmentally conscious.  Thom Mayne and Morphosis are featured in a segment called “Greening the Federal Government.”
To view it, go to http://www.e2-series.com/ and CLICK ON the segment called “Greening the Federal Government.”

It can be viewed as a webcast or a shorter podcast.

Expansion Project Media Coverage

Below is an overview of the notable media coverage received to date (please click on the individual links to read or view the media clips):

April 6, 2008: 
The Dallas Morning News:  “Museum Planners Get Busy”

March 19, 2008: 
The Dallas Morning News:  “Philanthropist Pickens” (Letters)

March 8, 2008: 
The Dallas Morning News:  “A Civic Boon from Boone” (editorial)

February 28, 2008: 
The Dallas Morning News:  “EXLCUSIVE: T. Boone Pickens pledges $10 million to Dallas' Museum of Nature & Science ”

JANUARY 11, 2008: 
The Dallas Morning News:  “The Unfolding Renaissance” (editorial)

JANUARY 9, 2008:
The Dallas Morning News:  “Thom Mayne scored Dallas museum job with edgy approach” by Charissa TerraNova

ArchitecturalRecord.com:  “Mayne Tapped for Dallas Museum of Nature & Science” by Elizabeth Lunday (story also to run in February 2008 issue)

Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  “Architect chosen for Dallas museum” by Gaile Robinson

Artinfo.com:  “Mayne to Design Dallas Museum”

Greenarchitecturenews.com:  “Architect chosen for Dallas museum”

Mediabistro.com:  “Dallas Enters Contention for 'Fancy New Architecture City' With Addition of Thom Mayne”

Barbarabalkin.com: “Thom Mayne to design Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, TX”

JANUARY 8, 2008:
The Dallas Morning News:  “Exclusive: The Mayne Event -- Thom Mayne to design Museum of Nature and Science” by David Dillon

Dallas Observer’s Unfair Park:  “Museum of Nature’s Mayne Man” by Robert Wilonsky

Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  “Famed architect to design Dallas Museum” by Gaile Robinson

Pegasus News: “Dallas Museum of Nature & Science names Thom Mayne as architect”

ArchiTechmag.com:  “Thom Mayne Chosen as Architect for Dallas Museum of Nature and Science”

WBAP-AM/820 – various segments throughout the day 

 

TV coverage:

1/8 (5 – 6 a.m.)              CBS 11/KTVT-TV 11 Early News Show
1/8 (6 – 7 a.m.)              CBS 11/KTVT-TV 11 Early News Show
1/8 (7 – 8 a.m.)              Fox 4/KDFW-TV Good Day Dallas
1/8 (noon – 12:30 p.m.)  Fox 4/KDFW-TV Fox 4 News at Noon
1/8 (5 – 5:30 p.m.)         WFAA-TV/Channel 8 News 8 at Five
1/8 (5 – 5:30 p.m.)         CBS 11/KTVT-TV 11 News at Five
1/8 (6 – 6:30 p.m.)         CBS 11/KTVT-TV 11 News at Six
1/8 (6 – 6:30 p.m.)         WFAA-TV/Channel 8 News 8 at Six
1/8 (7 – 9 p.m.)              KTXA-TV/Channel 21 News First in Prime
1/8 (9 – 10 p.m.)            KDAF-TV/CW 33 News at 9:00
1/8 (10 – 10:30 p.m.)      WFAA-TV/Channel 8 News 8 Update
1/9 (5 – 6 a.m.)              CBS 11/KTVT-TV 11 Early News Show