Science Center of Iowa

[dmluvr]

that's great!!! I just wish there was more media than just a little blurb!

[dogbo]

I volunteered for the Guv's conference activities last night so I was at the Science Center.

Wow, it looked great light up at night and they really had it decked out for all the governors, family, guests, etc. Anyway, what really surprised me was to see they'd finished the landscaping and reflecting pool within the last day or two. Looks like everything on the exterior is now done....and it looks great!

[hawk61401]

that's great news, dogbo ..

While the media has been covering the guvs, I have been seeing aerial pictures of the plex. The area directly west looks like a gravel parking lot. I know Des Moines was sprucing things up for this weekend but this looks totally neglected. Is it going to be landscaped, something built there?

[dogbo]

While the media has been covering the guvs, I have been seeing aerial pictures of the plex. The area directly west looks like a gravel parking lot. I know Des Moines was sprucing things up for this weekend but this looks totally neglected. Is it going to be landscaped, something built there?

They just recently demolished a couple buildings and have yet to do anything with that lot. On another thread somewhere this was brought up, but no one seemed to have any news as to what might be going there. I first feared it was just more parking, but I'm thinking that would have already been completed by now if that was the case.

BTW...they completely re-carpeted the Convention Center in time for the GNA. It's looks really sharp! In talking with one of the volunteer organizers, he indicated that fundraising for the GNA had gone so well, they ended up with some extra funds -- thus the new carpeting.

[DMRyan]

dogbo, was the glass curtain wall installed around the IMAX theater? I didn't notice that this had already been put up, and will be the feather in the cap at night with the colored lights reflecting off of the pool of water below.

[dogbo]

dogbo, was the glass curtain wall installed around the IMAX theater?

I'm not familiar with this. I'm thinking no.

[DMRyan]

Yeah, there's supposed to be a glass curtain wall enclosure installed around the IMAX.



And once again, I can't wait to see this at night.

[dmluvr]

Sooooooooo, when is this glass curtain going to go in?? anyone know??!!!


And also--that cool a** lighting on the rendering--is that going to happen??

Also, it appears that their is some lamp post style ligthing there--is going to happen??

[dmluvr]

Yuuuuuuup---just curious as to when this is going to happen eh??

[DMRyan]

I don't know about the lamp posts. It seems as if everything but the glass wall around the IMAX has been installed now.

An article in the paper a few months back said the glass wall would be ready to install by the end of the summer, and we're fast approaching that. In that same article, they showed a picture of a worker putting the framework for the glass wall together at a warehouse on the east side.

[DMRyan]

Recieved an email back from the Science Center, apparently everything is complete on SCI, so no glass canopy and funky lights in the reflecting pool will be added at this time. Apparently, that was one of the add-alternate options that got cut. The spokesperson for SCI said this could happen in the future---off the record, I wouldn't bank on it.

[dmluvr]

go figure.

Look--this is a gorgeous facility that we have here--no question about it.
I don't understand why they cut this though in the 11th hour. this would have been such a huge benefit to adding color and light downtown at night time.

Sorry, but that wather feature is weak and the lighting job is about as exciting as a stripmall. That area there just feels very underwhelming and let's quite bit to be desired. Hopefully they will do something or add that part of the project with time. Just seems to be wasted space.
They definitally oversold that part of the project.

Fabolous facility--it is---just very disaapointed with that feature that was suppose to happen.takes the umph out of it at nightime.

[DMRyan]

If you see construction on the SE corner of the Science Center site, it's an art/landscaping project a private donor stepped forward to create.

The contractors will be raising and shaping the land in the form of a big question mark, which will have dense plantings on on the elevated terrain. There will also be a plaza area that will have an outline of the solar system, and interpretive signs, etc.

The project is called "The Big Question".

[dmluvr]

How about a donor for that glass curtain on the IMAX dome??

Glad to see public art going in here---look forward to checking it out!!



(hooooowever---*cough cough* we really need some water features with good lighting!)

[Ingersoll1978]

There will also be a plaza area that will have an outline of the solar system, and interpretive signs, etc.

I'm assuming that it won't include Pluto.

[DMRyan]

It's taken a while to get the page up, but a Features section gallery on the Science Center of Iowa has been created. I intended to get more photos of the interior, but my camera batteries ran dry. Some neat vantage points of SCI and the downtown skyline from the SCI parking garage.

Check out the full gallery here: http://www.absolutedsm.com/Science_Cent ... llery.html

[NewHtsDSM]

Great shots of the SCI. Glad you snapped the photos before that moron drove into the front doors.

[DMRyan]

The Science Center has hit their one million attendence mark a full year ahead of Schedule.

From the DSM Business Record:

Science Center hits attendance milestone

On the second anniversary of its opening, the Science Center of Iowa announced today that its attendance to date has exceeded 1 million. The milestone was reached one full year ahead of the projections that leaders made when the center opened.

To recognize the achievement and thank the community for its support, SCI will host "Community Celebration Saturday" on Saturday, June 2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free cake, special guests, free gifts and new live programs to complement the "Backyard Monsters" summer traveling exhibit will be part of the day's events.

SCI opened its doors in 1970 in Greenwood Park. A $62 million capital campaign allowed the center to open its new downtown museum in 2005. Since moving to the new location, SCI has tripled its membership base to more than 7,000 families and has hosted more than 5,000 hours of live programming, including more than 50 new demonstrations.

[butters]

Has anyone else noticed there has been several "bashings" on the Science Center management in the 2 cents worth portion of the DM register? Is the science center starting to struggle?

[4th&Court]

I haven't seen that, but given what kind of odd junk appears in that column I don't doubt it. We went to SCI for the first time a few weeks ago. The IMAX is definitely cool for all, and the rest is great for kids. The SCI seems to get an awful lot of busloads of schoolkids, which is exactly what should be happening. What are the "bashings" saying?

[Better Life dude]

I haven't read that stuff - but the only complaint I've ever had is when you take your kids to the Science Center and a hands-on exhibit might be not working at the time. It seems like at any given time, about 10% of them are not operating. I give the Science Center a pass on that because I know how hard kids are on "stuff".

Their summer camp classes for kids and the demonstrations they do throughout the day in the exhibit halls are top notch. We have a season family pass - we have for about 6 years now- and our kids & their friends never get tired of going there. Unfortunately, they like the gift shop also.

Most people who write to the Register online or the "2 cents" just like to bitch a lot - about everything it seems. The 95% of people who are satisfied you never hear from.

[4th&Court]

Now that you mention it, I'd say 25-30% of the exhibits were out of order when we were there earlier this month. We were quite surprised at that, but figured maybe it was a maintenence day or something.

[GoVerticalDSM]

We were there a couple of weeks ago and were very pleasantly surprised to see the "bodily function" exhibit filled the room that used to have the broken egg drop and broken robot car (it was getting very tiring to always go back and see those never working).

The kids loved the "gross" exhibit, it was quite engaging and humorous. I don't think there were more than a couple of things out of order in the whole center. We're pretty excited about SCI again.

[Ingersoll1978]

Has anyone else noticed there has been several "bashings" on the Science Center management in the 2 cents worth portion of the DM register? Is the science center starting to struggle?

Can you tell us what some of the comments were? I always seem to pass over the Iowa Life section when I read the paper.

[SFO2DSM]

One person was upset that the new imax movie that they are showing is not appropriate for younger viewers.

[Norwalker]

The Science Center is finally re-opening the big exhibit area on the second floor that had been closed for quite a while now. The new exhibit, called "Toying with Science", includes both a few of the popular old attractions as well as some new ones.

IMHO, it was about time for a little re-working of some of the exhibit platforms, which hadn't really changed much since the building opened.

DSM Register story: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 0/1046/ENT

[4th&Court]

The Science Center is finally re-opening the big exhibit area on the second floor that had been closed for quite a while now. The new exhibit, called "Toying with Science", includes both a few of the popular old attractions as well as some new ones.

IMHO, it was about time for a little re-working of some of the exhibit platforms, which hadn't really changed much since the building opened.

DSM Register story: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 0/1046/ENT

Yeah, if the Science Center is going to do well long-term, they need to keep changing it up. Maintaining the same exhibits for too long will reduce repeat visits. I realize that there are lots of field trips going on, but long term success will definitely not be secured on that alone.

[DMRyan]

I was looking into the new Leonardo Da Vinci: The Genius exhibit that SCI has landed and we seem to be in good company. DSM is by far the smallest city to host the exhibit, which so far has only gone to Manchester, UK, Portland, OR, Budapest, Washington, DC and Taiwan.

This is the kind of quality traveling exhibit that I expected to see more of when SCI opened, so I hope this is finally a good start. Nothing keeps patrons going through the doors of a museum like a popular marquee exhibit like this. The people behind the exhibit say it takes 2-3 hours to go through every station! Now if only the extremely dated and increasingly obsolete Iowa Historical Building could land a few of these types of exhibits too...

See the link below for photos of the other exhibit stops.

http://www.davincithegenius.com/

[hawk61401]

Nothing keeps patrons going through the doors of a museum like a popular marquee exhibit like this. The people behind the exhibit say it takes 2-3 hours to go through every station! Now if only the extremely dated and increasingly obsolete Iowa Historical Building could land a few of these types of exhibits too...

We have a great Art Center, Civic Center, WFA is bringing in more top notch shows, and now the Science Center is stepping it up too.

Agreed, the Iowa Historical Museum needs to get some flash too. I know it's important to Iowa and brings in money to the economy, but an exhibit and space for the Iowa Caucuses? Most adults are no different than kids who bring their mom and dad with them. We want to see exhibits that are fun, unusual, mysterious.

The state historical museums in Texas and Wisconsin depend less on the one of a kind items. Expecially in Texas, many of the exhibits are loaned and something new and fresh is always coming around. But I am sure that Iowa's is just as good if not better than many other states. The only other one I have been to is North Carolina's in Raleigh. They had 2 -3 rooms filled with duck decoys. Carving a duck decoy is an art and takes a lot of talent. But my expectations were higher when I walked into the museum.

[QuadCityImages]

I was looking into the new Leonardo Da Vinci: The Genius exhibit that SCI has landed and we seem to be in good company. DSM is by far the smallest city to host the exhibit, which so far has only gone to Manchester, UK, Portland, OR, Budapest, Washington, DC and Taiwan.

Looks pretty similar to the exhibit that stopped here on its way from Chicago to Seattle in 2007. At least, the recreations of his inventions appear to be the same, but this version looks like it features more of his artwork.

Renowned da Vinci exhibit opens Nov. 9 at Putnam -QCTimes

I won free tickets and attended it, and was actually quite disappointed. Some of that was the Putnam's fault, since as the article mentions, they didn't really have room for it, which led to an awkward layout. Part of the problem was that some of the inventions that you could play with weren't completely working. Hopefully 3 years later they've gotten the kinks worked out.

Edit: The more I look into this, the less it seems like the same exhibit. There must be several "world renowned" da Vinci exhibits featuring recreations of his inventions traveling the globe.