Located in Des Moines’s rapidly growing cultural district, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership’s new Science Center of Iowa is destined to be a landmark structure when it opens in May. Sited on two city blocks in an area that recently housed rundown and abandoned warehouses, the new $62 million, 117,000-square-foot center will offer the community a modern, technologically sophisticated science center; an outdoor festival plaza for demonstrations, exhibits, and community use; and a landscaped park with water features and native Iowa flora.

The 35-year-old Science Center of Iowa was founded to teach science through interaction and investigation, a program that many museums today have adopted. The center’s previous facility no longer suited its function because it was unable to use and convey fully the abundance of technological and scientific advances over the last three-and-a-half decades. The new facility, on the other hand, will be able to meet the organization’s objectives as it addresses and builds on those advances. The new facility also reflects current thinking in how visitors respond to museum/cultural center exhibits and interpretation.

State-of-the-art programming
The science center will offer “dynamic experience platforms,” six interactive areas that explore:

• Who Are We?
• What on Earth?
• Why the Sky
• Small Discoveries
• When Things Get Moving
• Science Is Where You Find It.

In addition, the museum’s adaptable platform accommodates temporary and traveling exhibits. Reflecting the belief that learning is subjective, the exhibits emphasize “how to learn, not what to learn.”

The facility boasts a 220-seat IMAX© Theater, 175-seat Science Adventure Theater, a 50-seat domed Star Theater, retail shop, and an outdoor dining area. It will include cyber labs, educational resources for students and teachers, early-childhood learning programs, and outreach and distance-learning programs.

The cylindrical, 70-foot-tall IMAX Theater wears a cladding of polished stainless steel panels that reflect and refract light from a surrounding reflecting pool during the day and artificial light from the north façade at night. Says ZGF Partner Evett J. Ruffcorn, FAIA, “We wanted to design a Science Center unlike any other; one that inspires and enriches the lives of its visitors and residents of Iowa. The building will be simultaneously serious and playful on both the interior and exterior, visually reflecting the center’s learning function.”

The architects report that the facility’s vocabulary was “crafted to engage and inspire” the audience. Bold colors enliven the space while ample daylight opens the center to individual exploration and discovery. To enhance the facility’s use as a community asset, the structure was set in the midst of a park-like setting. Façade materials—stainless steel, glass, yellow brick, and terracotta—respond to neighboring red brick buildings, while the reflecting pool and extensive landscaping invite visitors to relax and explore the natural world.

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