Earthblog

The new Telus World of Science Centre set to open in the fall of 2011 will be a purpose built centre, certified environmentally-sensitive to include new galleries and exhibits, and boast a four acre outdoor ‘amazement park’.

It will move from its current cramped west downtown location on 11 St. S.W. to a spacious destination site next to the Calgary Zoo on Memorial Drive and Deerfoot Trail. The current Science Centre has outgrown its space as attendance has more than doubled in the last decade.

The new centre will be Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified with plenty of green power initiatives and it will have a new galleries featuring constantly changing interactive exhibits.

They are planning on marketing to kids, teen s and adults and provide something that sparks each age group’s interests and engages them in the learning process, says Cassandra McAuley the centre’s media relations manager.

HIGHLY INTERACTIVE

“The interactive components to our exhibits are endless. It’s starting now. Two years in advance of the building even opening, we are engaging our guests and others to tell us what they are looking for in exhibits and what is working and what we should change. This way it really speaks to them.” McAuley says.

Photo: Krysta Remington

Dayna Schloss demonstrates a wind turbine exhibit she has been devloping in the prototype lab

The Centre’s exhibit development team brought together from all over North America hasseen the world class exhibits and what works and how to make it better, McAuley says.

Dayna Schloss is one of the exhibit developers that you will see putting things together in their public friendly prototype lab. She says they are still figuring out what the exhibits are going to be for the future building

“We’re not thinking about technology yet, we are just thinking about what people can do that’s cool,” Schloss says. The problem with developing exhibits completely is they don’t know where technology will be in two years because it moves so fast.

USING YOUR OWN DEVICES IN THESCIENCE CENTRE

“One thing we have done is we are talking a lot about how to get people to use their own devices in exhibits. Everyone is coming here with a camera; how can we use the fact that they are already taking pictures here as part of the experience? For a human body exhibit we had some people develop a prototype iphone application. It measures how your body is balanced. You hold your iphone and then it measures your balance. It’s called isway. That’s just something we have tried out, but I’m not sure what’s actually going to make it,” Schoss says.

GOING BEYOND THE WALLS – VIRTUAL WORLDS FOR ALL CANADIANS

One of the new facility’s goals is to use new technology to go beyond their walls and engage groups or individuals that can’t be at the building physically. They want it to be a virtual internet science centre for all Canadians. Distance learning programs will also be set-up to reach schools and students across Canada through two-way communications. Students can ask questions, virtually explore the science centre’s exhibits and e-mail themselves images of their own DNA.

The most exciting and important exhibits will be equipped with RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology that embeds microchips into wristband or tickets. This technology is similar to the bar code identification systems. Visitors can send home results from experiments they completed, pictures of things they built, video animations they made, important web links and other tidbits of information they learned throughout their day.

As the technology constantly changes and is demonstrated in different ways on the

Photo:Courtesy of Telus World Science Centre

The outdoor scrim wil constantly change the look of the building with the help of L.E.D. light technology

inside, the outside will also be constantly changing. McAuley says there will be what is called an interactive scrim all around the building, just slightly set apart from the building itself. This scrim will be changeable and interactive. “You are going to see a different building in the morning than you will at night and it will change throughout the day,” McAuley says and if a scrim is hard to picture, it is not like the flappable billboards that rotate through three advertisements. Instead it is done with L.E.D. lights and different components. Some of the parts will be more permanent than others.

Even the roof is an interesting component of the new building. “It will be above the atrium, but it lets in a ton of natural light. This is important as part of the Gold LEED Certification, but also just having that natural light look and feel,” McAuley says.

The Telus World of Science Centre held an international search to find their architects and ended up choosing three local architect firms. Cohos Evamy integratedesign are behind the 153,000 square foot building, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning are designing the Dome Theatre and the interior spaces and O2 Planning + Design are doing the landscape architecture.

Once the new building is built, it becomes all about staying on top of what the latest trends are in technology and what we should be learning about for our future careers or interests. McAuley says “That is part of the challenge of developing plans in the first place because it does change so quickly and we don’t want to become stagnant. It’s something we have to constantly work towards.”

In order to keep on top of new technology, new ideas constantly need to be brought forward. These new ideas and suggestions come from the experienced and worldly exhibit development team and “they are coming from other science centres, what is topical, our guests when they come into our prototype lab and are working with our exhibits and offeering suggestions. Then they are also coming from thinking about what the goal of a certain gallery is. How do we engage our guests and what do they want to learn about,” McAuley says.

The younger generation has the Creative Kids Museum and teenagers will have the Technology, Style and Art gallery. As for adults they will have exhibits directed at their interests, but they have also started a monthly debate series called the Science Café held at the Ironwood pub in Inglewood. “We invite people to come down, have a beer, coffee or whatever. Every month is a different topic and we bring in two speakers on opposing sides of an issue. They debate it out and it gives the audience the opportunity to debate it out amongst themselves or spark thought. Those are the kinds of things we will be doing for adults, helping them think and providing them with opportunities to learn in ways that are beneficial to them,” McAuley says. Some of the topics they have covered in the past were black holes in relation to 2009 being the international year of astronomy and the hot topic of the oil sands.

In 2008 TD Bank made a donation to go towards an environmental program for youth. “It’s important for youth; and kids and adults for that matter, to learn about it [the environment] so they can make informed decisions. And that is what it is really all about. Learning about how we can be good environmental stewards and how we can create sustainability,” McAuley says.

Not only will an entire gallery be dedicated to energy and innovation, but as far as environmental programming goes McAuley says it will be throughout the centre and it will change with the times. This also goes back to the standards their building had to meet to become Gold LEED Certified. They have incorporated solar power and reusing storm water to flush their toilets McAuley says are a few of the steps they have taken.

The outdoor amazement park will not be an immediate feature, but it will be located on four acres outdoors that they never had the space for before. McAuley says it will showcase science in the outdoors and due to their location being right on the Bow River they can use that as an educational point for guests as well.

It went from a possibility of 80 sites, down to 20 and now the final choice seems to be providing the Telus World of Science Centre with exactly what it needs to fulfill visitor’s needs. It’s accessible by all means, it’s purposely built with their exhibits, theatres and galleries in mind, there is plenty of outdoor space for possible expansion and environmental learning, it is more than twice the size of their building now to accommodate their doubling attendance rates and it is in close proximity to the zoo providing a destination point in the city for tourists and locals alike.

McAuley says, “It is creating jobs. The jobs are being created through construction, through development and through just having a larger organization in town. It is also good for Calgary because it is going to provide Calgarians with an opportunity to come and be a part of something big and different. Something that doesn’t exist here. It is something that Calgary will be proud of. We are bringing a lot of amazing things into this new science centre.”

Atrium 10,000 square feet Visually stimulating Central entry point to all the galleries Creative Kids Museum Directed at a younger generation Visual Arts, Music, Dance/Movement, Performing Arts, Literature Artists Space, Toddler Exploration, Interaction Stations Dome Theatre Places audience underneath a large domed projection screen Lectures, Rentals and Special Events Theatre Technology Centre gets visitors looking at the technology of the media equipment that is running the show Future Interactive Science – Visualization Shows will provide interactive games and 3D visuals Earth and Space Exploring the connections between Earth and sky and between Earth and humans Magic Planet uses real satellite date to visualize planet Earth 3D Galaxy based on astronomical date so visitors can move around the Galaxy at hyper speed Our Space in Space allows visitors to experience space as astronauts do Energy and Innovation: Hall of Transformation Object Theatre demonstrates Alberta’s history in energy production and innovation LEED Technology Exhibits shows green technologies installed in the building Transformations of Energy turns the kinetic power of footsteps into light displays Human Body It’s My Life focuses on the five senses and our body’s systems and functions Reproduction: Ready Set Grow will show the reproduction cycle Public Health keeps on top of current wellness topics Outdoor Amazement Park Will includes pathways, large-scale interactive features, a big sand box, water park, picnic tables and climbing nets Landscape perspectives, Big Machines and Smart Cars Presentation Theatre Mega Demos and Multimedia Presentations SuperNET programming will allow the audience to interact with other audiences across the province Rental Space Technology, Style and Art Mash-up directed at teens will allow them to make connections between different technologies and art forms across time and fields Iconic Art, Animation Stations and Design your own Virtual Wheels Werklund Foundation Learning and Leadership Centre Discovery Studios are bright, open and inspiring spaces The Commons is space dedicated to events, school groups, science fairs and traveling exhibits

Photo:Courtesy of Telus World Science Centre A virutal representation of the future outdoor 'amazement' park will include pathways, a waterpark and sandbox, climbing nets, picnic tables and it is close enough to the Bow River that they can use this as a learning tool       Photo: Courtesy of Telus World Science Centre An aerial view of the future centre       Photo: Courtesy of Telus World Science Centre A view of the constantly chaning outdoor scrim at dusk