New Hall Of Science Wing Gets AIA Award
by linda j. wilson

The new wing of the New York Hall of Science, which opened in November 2004, has garnered its creators a prestigious Design Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York chapter. The award was conferred on Polshek Partners Architects September 16 in Syracuse, New York.

The AIA award is not the first for Polshek Partners’ design. In addition to the Design Award, which was in the Merit Class, the expansion received a BE Award of Excellence from Bentley Systems and was designated Cultural Project of the Year by the Construction Management Association, both earlier this year, and won First Prize for a Public Building in the annual Building Awards competition of the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 2004. The design of the building garnered an Award for Excellence in Design from the Art Commission of the City of New York when plans were first drawn up and construction started in 2001.

The expansion was completed at a cost of $89 million and encompasses 55,000 square feet of exhibition space, two discovery lab classroom spaces for hands-on experience and the Harcourt Teacher Leadership Center and Science Technology Library, a Preschool Place Early Childhood Science Center and extensive new visitor amenities and support space. The expansion aids the hall in fulfilling its mission, “to bring the excitement and understanding of science and technology to children, families, teachers and others by galvanizing their curiosity and offering them creative, participatory ways to learn.”

Polshek Partners notes that the design for the expansion of the New York Hall of Science, in addition to introducing a variety of new exhibition spaces, also creates a loop circulation that redefines the visitor sequence and provides a memorable image for this interactive science museum, the original building of which housed exhibits on space and space travel at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

The original Harrison and Abramovitz building is characterized by a cellular concrete frame structure infilled with dark cobalt-colored, cast-glass. The design for the expansion of the Hall is intended to transform the institution's identity and redefine the visitor experience by means of exhibit sequence and circulation.

The new building is long and low and extends north from and serves as a horizontal counterpoint to the undulating vertical form of the original building. Translucent fiberglass panels wrap the hall, creating a new Hall of Light suffused with muted white light, contrasting with the dark exhibit halls of the existing building. The Discovery Labs, adjacent and open to the new exhibition spaces on the upper and lower galleries, have visible identity and ambiguous thresholds to draw in visitors. A light-controlled gallery connected to the new hall is an exhibition space for traveling shows. Outside, the luminous new addition provides an anchor and backdrop for new landscaping that is home to the renovated Rocket Park and accommodates outdoor programming.

Immediately visible when visitors approach the Hall of Science is the Rocket Park, featuring a real Atlas booster rocket with its replica Mercury capsule and a real Titan II booster with its replica two-man Gemini capsule. The actual Mercury Capsule #1 is on display inside.

An exhibit, “Science, Technology and the Great World’s Fairs”, greets visitors inside at the Melissa Vail and Norman Selby Entrance Lobby Gallery. Photographs of inventions in transportation, communications and entertainment that were introduced at World’s Fairs over the past 150 years are displayed.

Other exhibitions on view are “Brush With Science, The Artwork of Julie Newdoll” from September 17 to October 30, comprised of scientifically based works on cell processes and the senses where Newdoll fuses biology with cultural and mythological references on the topics of the senses, mitosis, nanotechnology and molecular structures such as DNA, RNA and proteins. “Brush With Science” includes Sense Kimonos for a Japanese Tea Ceremony–paintings of kimonos which incorporate microscope imagery of the cells and structures which receive the five senses.

“Quantoons: Metaphysical Illustrations 1991 – 2002” is also on view from September 17 to November 30, and consists of illustrations of physics concepts from Quantum Magazine by noted cartoonist Tomas Bunk, a regular contributor to Mad Magazine and the Garbage Pail Kids.

The noted Harcourt Teacher Leadership Center (HTLC) is a comfortable and enriching environment which facilitates the creation of fresh teaching and learning approaches in science and math disciplines. It provides teachers with the programs, workshops and resources they need to become confident and competent at teaching science, mathematics and technology. Through the HTLC, the Hall of Science offers both preexisting and customized training programs for teachers, empowering them to become leaders and providing them access to exhibits, tools, a library and more. The HTLC offers outreach lesson modeling, multi-day teacher training and rental programs, one-day professional development programs, United Federation of Teachers sponsored programs, teacher-in-residence program and a teaching assistant certificate program.

At the new Preschool Place, children age 6 and younger can explore and discover the natural and built world of a city in a playful environment. and find the ways in which urban and natural landscapes are inter-related. Babies can experience multi-sensory activities in a protected area.

Preschool Science sessions at Preschool Place last one-hour and consist of a guided hands-on activity and free exploration in Preschool Place. Visitors can explore exhibits before and after their sessions. Current and upcoming Preschool Science themes are: October, Plump Pumpkins, November, Colds and Viruses and December, Forever Evergreens.

Plump Pumpkins allows participants to see the inside of a pumpkin and learn how it grows and decorate their own pumpkin with colorful paints. Colds and Viruses demonstrates what happens when people get sick and what they do to make themselves better. Participants will make a puppet using materials that help people ailing from colds and viral infections get better. Forever Evergreens will show why evergreens stay green all year round and what makes them different from other trees. Preschool Science participants will create a colorful evergreen forest scene.

Call 718.699.0005, extension 348 to register and confirm availability. Fees are $11 per session for child and adult pair, $8 per session member adult and child, $7 per additional child (children under 1 year old are free and $6 per additional adult. All payments can be made with cash, check, or credit card.

The Search for Life Beyond Earth exhibition compares environments on Earth, Mars and Europa, the fourth largest moon of Jupiter, and demonstrates organisms that live in extreme environments on Earth.

Connections—The Nature of Networks demonstrates that networks are everywhere. The exhibition shows how to arm wrestle over the Internet, see the earth from outer space, and watch how rivers form through the power of networks.

The Sports Challenge consists of sports-related exhibits, each of which focuses on a different scientific principle that is crucial to succeeding at the sport. There is something for everyone, whatever their preference— baseball, basketball, auto racing, rock climbing or any other sport.

Mathematica—A World of Numbers is a classic exhibition designed by world-renowned designers Charles and Ray Eames. Mathematica covers the Moebius band, projective geometry, probability, topology and multiplication.

A collection of classic hands-on art and technology exhibits and newly commissioned pieces further enrich the museum experience.

Located in New York City since the founding of the practice in 1963, Polshek Partners is a 150-person firm known for architectural excellence and for its longstanding commitment to cultural, educational, governmental and scientific institutions. Projects have been published internationally and recognized with numerous awards for design excellence, for contributions they make to the cultural life of the cities where they are located and for the stabilization of their immediately adjacent and more far-flung neighborhoods.