Science center to expand - Baltimore Business Journal:

ovaluleq.wordpress.com
The nonprofit museum is working with DesignCollective Inc. ( ), a Baltimorer architecture firm, to devise conceptual plans fora 60,000-square-foot building that will be constructe d on a grassy piece of land alongh Light Street, adjacent to the center's IMAX theater. Less than a year ago, the sciencwe center exercised an option to purchase theadjoining one-acrwe site from the city for $1, said Richarr M. Hesse, the center's chief financial The new addition will house a main lobbyg andtwo wings, one for the "Dinosaur and Earty Sciences Hall," and the other for "blockbuste traveling exhibits," Hesse said.
"We woul like both wings to be highly visible," he said. "Therse will be a lot of glass ...W would like something on the Inner Harbor that is very Sketches for the proposed building arestilp preliminary, with the height now set at two A parking garage on the othed side of the science center is also being Initial plans show a two-level underground garage on the science center'd current parking area along Key Highway. That component, remains uncertain and is not included inthe $36 millioh price tag. The cost also involves recapturinygand re-arranging some current exhibition space, Hesse said. It is this crowded exhibition space that has fuelerdthe expansion.
"We're busting at the Hesse said. "We can't do the kinds of exhibition thatwe want." The science cented continues to be a popular destination for tourists and area residents. The annual attendancr hovers around 600,000, with the traveling sciencse programreaching 150,000 additional people, Hessew said. But few know abouy the improvements that will soon be A capital campaign for theexpansiobn project, for which construction is expected to stargt early next year, has not officially started. The new buildingv is expected to openin 2003.
The stated has already committed $16 million for the with another $4 million promised by the The science center must match the majorityy of those funds in order toreceivee them. The nonprofit organization has not undertakemn a capital campaign for an expansionh project for more thana decade. In 1988 the center'e IMAX theater opened, drawing a record number of visitoras atthe time. While the expansiom is moving forward, the science center is in the middlof renovations. The IMAX theater is being upgraded toaccommodatre 3-D viewing and is expected to re-open in October.
The refurbishment is being fundedwith $500,00 in state money and $500,000 in science center Design Collective declined to comment on the plannedx addition.