For more than 100 years, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science has grown along with Denver, expanding many times to meet the increasing needs of the community.
The Museum intends to be a thriving institution for generations to come. Recently, the staff, volunteers and trustees of the Museum worked together to re-create our mission, vision and strategic intent to guide the organization into the future.
From there, the Museum created a 10-year Strategic Plan, anchored by a comprehensive Master Facilities Plan, to define specific projects that will fulfill our commitment to making the Denver Museum of Nature & Science the best regional nature and science museum in the world.
Highlights:
A Safe and Sustainable Building
Because the Museum intends to be a valued resource to the public for the long-term, it is necessary to take care of our 100-year-old, City-owned building. Many of the building’s systems are aging, inefficient, environmentally unsound, and beyond their service lives. The building’s current state limits the Museum’s ability to effectively serve all its audiences.
The Strategic Plan will bring the Museum building up to 21st-century standards. The main entrance and lobby will be remodeled to better serve visitors. The Museum’s single traveling exhibit hall will be renovated. Critical life safety systems will be upgraded. A backlog of deferred maintenance will be taken care of.
Through this entire process, the Museum will set an example of environmental stewardship by converting the facility into a green building that conserves energy and reduces its use of carbon fuels.
A New Science Education Center
Colorado is facing a crisis in science literacy. Recent state test scores show that half of Colorado’s 5th, 8th and 10th graders lack proficiency in science. Teachers, especially at the preschool and elementary school level, report a lack of training in science and a discomfort with teaching science.
The Museum will build a Science Education Center to expand its ability to offer science classes for both schools and non-school youth groups. It will include new state-of-the-art classrooms and labs for students, a science resource center for teachers, redesigned early-childhood-education facilities, and a science library.
New Permanent Exhibits Featuring Cutting-Edge Science
Providing relevant, current science information to the public is what the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is all about. The Museum will create new permanent exhibits that will educate people of all ages about the most exciting emerging science in an accessible and interactive manner.
New Health Science Hall: The Denver-area is home to some of the most health-conscious people in the country. Over the last 20 years, they’ve made the Hall of Life the most popular exhibit at the Museum. But the exhibit is worn out and no longer reflects new information about health science.
Plans to completely redesign and update this exhibit are already underway and an entirely new Health Science Hall will debut in 2009. Using innovative interactive activities and dynamic educational programs, this new permanent exhibit will present the most up-to-date science about human health, information intended to motivate visitors to make healthy choices.
New Earth Science Hall: Colorado’s spectacular landscape of mountains, canyons, and rivers make our state an ideal place to observe geological processes at work. The Earth Science Hall will tell the dynamic story of our ever-changing planet, from the volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, uplift and erosion that have shaped the Rocky Mountains, to describing how planet Earth was formed, to illustrating the movement of continents and the shifting of the global climate. Visitors will come away with a renewed appreciation for our planet and a motivation to act as responsible stewards of the Earth’s resources.
New Human Journey Hall: The quest to understand the origins of the human race is one of the most compelling questions in science. The Human Journey Hall will explain the evolution of the human race and trace the spread of people across the globe. This new exhibit will also present the diversity of cultures across the world, with emphasis on the peoples of the Rocky Mountain Region.
Improved Storage for the Museum’s Collections
The Museum holds more than a million artifacts in its collections for the public, things like rare fossils, Native American artifacts, priceless gems and minerals, and extinct bird and mammal specimens. These irreplaceable objects are scattered among 49 separate storage spaces throughout the building. Many of these areas lack environmental and climate controls, have outdated fire suppression systems, and inadequate security systems.
To solve these problems, the Museum will build a secure, climate-controlled storage facility underneath the new Science Education Center to hold the treasures in our collections. Adjacent lab space will improve working conditions for scientists and researchers.