Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation: Visit San Francisco’s Pier 15 anytime on or after April 17 and you’ll get to take in a bridge enveloped in manmade fog, a 3-D topographic map of the Bay Area with data sets projected onto its surface, mouse stem cell research, and items from patients who lived at a now-shuttered mental institution. It’s all part of the new Exploratorium, a $300 million upgrade to the mother of all experiential learning science museums.
13 comments:
As a child, I grew up fairly far from any interesting science museums or history museums. I remember being in third grade and going to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on a class trip. It was the first time I'd ever been to a science museum, and it definitely made an impression on my eight year old self. For those children (and adults) lucky enough to live close this science museum, I can only imagine the impression this museum will make on young children who go to visit it. I admire not only their effort to educate people, but to do it in an environmentally friendly way by using solar power and a heating and coolant system from the surrounding water. I also think the exhibit about the mental patients is something very different from the usual science museum display. I think that might actually be more accurate in a history museum (as the pictures seem to suggest a display similar to that sort). Regardless, it's very fascinating to think that what formerly locked someone away for years is now treatable, or at least has a disease that goes with it instead of "shy". I'd really love to see that in person and see what sort of angle they take with the exhibit (if they take one).
Like Kelly museums played a huge part of my childhood. Around the eight year old range it seems like children just want to learn more and more. I think this museum is a great way to take advantage of that. From what it sounds like this museum is absolutely massive and not something a kid could do in one day. I think this is something that has to be done over several days. As Kelly said regarding the positive energy options I think that is so forward of the museum. Museums often have a very limited operating budget most of that budget being used on surprise! The running of the museum heating, cooling, electricity usage etc. ?I think this move forward is going to give the museum so much more longevity and allows it to reach so many more people.
I loved visiting the Exploratorium as a kid!!! It has always been one of my favorite museums, and now I guess I need to go back for a day or two and explore! I think this museum has been doing an interesting job combining both science and art. The outdoor fog sculpture is definitely a good combination of both, which is an interesting view of how we learn science. Additionally, I think the mental health exhibit could be fascinating and important, and I'll have to keep an eye out for more information about it.
Well I know what I will be doing in San Francisco this summer. Staying there with my grandma for a couple weeks seems much more appealing now, not that it wasn't it the first place, but this looks awesome. I wish it had more pictures of the stuff inside but I guess one of the coolest parts is that its going to be a theoretically self sustaining building. More of those have been popping up and they are super interesting. Phipps Conservatory just opened an office building like that and they let people walk around explain how everything was made. They also have little plaques on each floor with the content of the walls and floors and the environmental significance and such. Its worth checking out.
Like, it seems, many others I used to love going to art and science museums when I was younger. I was always excited when the museums and exhibits were esthetically, just pretty. Obviously that will attract a lot of tourists, and I want to go there!
I think it is really cool that there is an exhibit on mental health, because honestly I think that is a topic that many young adults today are a bit ignorant to. Educating children on the subject will make them be able to understand a world that consists of many different minds when they get older. This could also help those with disabilities understand what they have in a less intimidating way then sitting in some office listening to a psychiatrist.
Anybody think about the fact that in order for these new exhibit concepts to exist, there's a full design, management, fabrication and installation process that goes in there? Museums need theatrical minds to construct stories for their guests out of what may otherwise be dry fact and figure. They need managers to push projects along, designers and engineers to make things visually and aurally appealing, technicians to construct them durably and safely for guest interaction, and often they need performers (in the form of lecturers or actors) to convey that information in a palatable, entertaining way. Museums like the Exploratorium may be doing things out of fiberglass and plastic rather than wood and metal, but it's the same old flats, platforms and tables.
This place sounds amazing and somewhere totally worth visiting. Ok so to me every sounds great and good, tons of really cool things. But what I really found super fascinating is the mental health section of the article. I found the example of a child being diagnosed as "shy" extremely fascinating. What are the implications? I personally feel we give out to many drugs to "fix" kids who just need better leadership, parenting, guidance, support, and help through there lives. But I feel that leads to bigger issues in our society and I just want to look at the museum. So I love it, I am totally pumped that there were able to raise 300 million dollars and to produce such an amazing museum for everyone to experience.
I grew up taking often trips to the California Science Center. The Science Center was a decently funded and high tech science museum that had modern and interesting exhibits. The reason this museum was so popular was that everything was interactive and fun. I have driven past the Exploratorium in San Francisco before and i have meant to actually go in so next time i think i will.
I love science museums, and this Exploratorium seems really cool. Some of the exhibits seem really inventive such as the Seasons of Plankton, the fog exhibit, and the 3D topographical map with projections. They all stand out compared to other science museums because these exhibits seem to embrace what is unique about the Bay area. However, when they got to the metal health installation, they lost me. From what they told me, everything seemed to revolve around a San Francisco theme. Now, they're giving us an exhibit about mental health patients from New York. I think it would have been more interesting if they did a mental health exhibit focused on Alcatraz, which is more local. This subject sounds very heavy for children, but I think it would be very appealing towards teenage visitors. I'm very impressed that the museum added such an important exhibit. I wonder if they would ever add an exhibit about suicidal mental health and its effect on the Golden Gate Bridge. But that's probably pushing it way too far.
I love hands on museums! When I was little I spent most of my summers at science camps at the local science museum. Hands on museums are a really great way to get kids into what they are learning and to have good memories contented to science. This museum looks like a really great museum and I would love to visit it at some point. I have this idea of a for a hands on theatre museum that's similar to this one but teaching kids about theatre. Science museums have a monopoly on hands on museums, but I don't think they should. There are a lot of other themes that could benefit from a this hands on formate.
As many before me have said, museums are a fantastic way to educate not only the younger generations but the masses in general. Like a library, museums present the opportunity for enrichment of the mind in an interactive and exciting way. Studies have found that we learn better when we are enjoying ourselves so definitively, we should continue to create more and more museums.
I haven't been able to visit the Exploratorium, but judging by this article, it sounds like it has been able to incorporate today's generation's obsession with computers and games and interactivity into a museum, making it more engaging and exciting than museums of the past may have been. I also think that it's a lesson that we're also learning in the theatre world, and many companies are trying to incorporate interactivity, media, and computers into their performances.
Living in San Francisco, I frequented the MOMA and several other modern art museums in my youth. Now, being a student at Carnegie Mellon University; Andy Warhol's Alma Mater, I have become even more familiar with modern art museums and exhibits. I can confidently say that I believe to spend a day in a museum filled with art and exhibits such as these is both mentally stimulating in well-worth your time. While visiting UC Berkeley over spring break, I had the oppurtunity to visit and exhibit titled "the chair". It was a projection of the view from the electric chair at Alcatraz in San Francisco; an attempt to show what it might have been like visually. I think that kind of art is spectacular, not only due to it's technologically progressive nature, but also it's ability to stimulate the brain in a new way. I believe that if the funding is available for new and progressive art forms, the funds should be properly allocated so that we might have more of these kinds of museums and exhibits.
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