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News
05.26.06
New Name: Connecticut Science Center
$7.8 Million Closer to Goal; 200+ Exhibits Designed
HARTFORD, CT – (May 26, 2006) – The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration today adopted a new name: Connecticut Science Center, and an exciting new logo. The new identity was adopted by the Center's Board of Trustees, meeting today in Hartford.
“After an extensive process of considering many different name choices, it became clear that we should simply call ourselves what we are: a science center,” said Dr. Ted Sergi, president & CEO of the Connecticut Science Center. “Members of the public, including school students, have naturally branded us based on what we will be for them, and we were eager to respond to that.”
The new name is accompanied by a new logo, a stylized profile of some of the signature lines of the Connecticut Science Center's building, which is now under construction. The new logo features the Center's swooping curved roof in blue, its distinctive parallelogram tower shape in green, and a purple outline of the building's photovoltaic solar panel wall. The colors represent the neighboring Connecticut River and technical sciences (blue), earth, the environment and life (green) and inspiration and imagination (purple).
The name change was timed to follow the former Science Center of Connecticut’s May 10 decision to rename itself The Children’s Museum. The Children’s Museum is located on Trout Brook Drive in West Hartford. The new Connecticut Science Center, which is being built at Adriaen’s Landing in Hartford, will offer lifelong science learning opportunities on a statewide basis when it opens in 2008. The new names are designed to more accurately reflect the missions of the two organizations.
Campaign Grows; Donors Recognized
The Center announced that it has now raised more than $139 million and has received pledges reaching 93% of its $150 million goal. The Center has raised $7.8 million in commitments since the last report at the October 2005 Board meeting, including $4 million in federal funds, and leading new gifts from St. Paul Travelers, WFSB TV, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Bristol Myers-Squibb, MassMutual, and AlphaGraphics. The Board recognized donors who have contributed to the Center to date (see below).
“Our success is directly related to the generous support we’ve received from all of our donors,” said Dr. Sergi. “We are thankful to the many donors who have stepped forward and made a commitment to support this important project. Through their generosity and leadership, we are able to respond to the great need to inspire our children to appreciate and embrace the world of science.”
New Exhibit Details
The Center's exhibit design team, Thinc Design and Jeff Kennedy Associates, unveiled exhibit gallery layouts and designs of some of the 200+ exhibits now in development for the Center. The exhibit experience begins with Science Alley, the 130 foot high central artery into the Center from both Columbus Boulevard and the new Phoenix Plaza that will be built as part of the project. Bridges crossing Science Alley connect exhibit galleries in the floors above, and offer kiosks from which visitors can interact with a futuristic giant mobile suspended from the ceiling.
The Children’s Gallery features Water Play, a series of stream channels, vortex pools, interactive water jets, and a mist fountain for experiments with forces and properties found in nature. The gallery is adorned by giant versions of I-Spy photographer Walter Wick’s search-and-find images.
The Center’s Northeast Utilities Gallery of Physical Science is distinguished by large scale elements which magnify motion-related phenomena, and accommodate multiple users who can compare efforts, strategies and results. A low friction air table with toy sailboats will engage visitors in experiments that reveal that sailboats are “pulled” rather than “pushed” from behind by the wind. A high speed camera will record the exotic shapes of an object on impact when it is dropped. Inventor Dean Kamen’s popular FIRST program for engineering students will anchor an exhibit on robotics.
The adjacent Art, Music & Culture Gallery will connect experimentation with self expression, inviting visitors to hear, see and feel the energy of sound and light. This highly theatrical gallery will make sound and music visible using everything from sand to video to display the patterns and behaviors of music. In the Groove Room, individuals or groups can orchestrate sound and light with hand gestures in thin air.
Visitors will discover math and science in their own analysis of their performance in games and activities in the Sports Science Gallery. Subjects include the ever-popular claim that certain shoes can make you run faster or jump higher. If it’s bouncing, colliding, balancing or soaring, it’s likely to be found in the Sports Science Gallery, along with a strong message about the mechanics and health benefits of physical activity, as explored in detail in the adjacent Human Health Gallery.
Unique individuals discover what makes them special in the Human Health Gallery, with face captures, voiceprints, and study of DNA and genetic traits. In addition to physical health topics such cardiovascular fitness, this gallery now features an added focus on mental fitness, including issues of stress, motivation, and choice-making.
The human urge to explore leads the Space Science Gallery to the Connecticut Science Center’s final frontier. The Solar System exhibits build on manned exploration for signs of life, while the Galaxy and Beyond elements center on remote, unmanned exploration of the Milky Way and cosmic questions about the Universe. Adventuresome visitors will “fly over” Mars in a joystick-equipped flight chair, surrounded by dramatic images of Mars from recent missions.
The Connecticut Inventions Gallery is not only about local creations such as the Wiffle Ball and Ovation Guitar, it is about the process of invention itself. Visitors will marvel at ingenious solutions to knotty problems, solve puzzles, and apply their own imagination and logic to solve physical and abstract riddles.
The Center’s Earth Science Gallery now features the popular everyday science topic of weather as a window to our environment. The WFSB Weather Exhibit, combined with a real TV weather forecasting studio, will take visitors from temperature and wind readings in the Roof Garden through a process of creating a weather forecast, and delivering it “on TV” like a weather reporter. The gallery’s signature Climate Change Show provides a lively discussion of global warming, and the delicate interplay between life on earth and the earth itself.
Closely related to Earth Science is the Clean & Efficient Energy Gallery, where the story of energy is told, from traditional fuels to futuristic sources. The MPG challenge is a realistic driving simulator that puts visitors in an urgent “race against resources”. The Center’s energy efficient design, as well as energy efficient options available to everyone will build a strong connection between energy use and one’s own choices.
Master Plan
The Center's Board adopted an updated Master Plan, detailing every aspect of the vision, objectives, strategies and activities of the Center from today through its first five years of operations. The plan reflects a strong emphasis on Visitor Services.
"We will match our world class building and world class exhibits and programs with extraordinary care for our visitors," said Dr. Sergi. "Our brand is about more than our name and image, it is about the special value, experience, and care that we and our staff will deliver to each guest who walks through our doors."
The Master Plan, the second of three editions planned before the Center opens, outlines services and programs, attendance projections and revenue and expense budgets for the Center’s operations.
Leading Executives Join
The Center enthusiastically welcomed three of Connecticut’s most prominent executives to their positions as members of the Center’s Board of Trustees.
Dona Young
Chairman, president and CEO of the Phoenix CompaniesRonald Williams
CEO and President of AetnaPeyton Patterson
Chairman, president and CEO of NewAlliance Bank
“These highly regarded executives, and the important organizations they represent, join an already extraordinary group of leaders who are creating this new science center for the people of Connecticut,” said Dr. Sergi. “We are inspired by their commitment to our mission, and their confidence in us, to make this institution as special as we all believe that it can be.”
Connecticut Science Center
The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration, now under construction at Adriaen’s Landing in Hartford, will spark creative imagination and an appreciation for science by immersing visitors in fun and educational hands-on, interactive experiences. The Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing science education throughout the state of the Connecticut, providing learning opportunities for students and adults of all ages, and engaging the community in scientific exploration. Details, images, news releases and live webcam are available online at www.ctcse.org.
The Children’s Museum
The Children’s Museum, the fifth oldest children’s museum in the United States, was founded in 1927. The museum has been at its current Trout Brook Drive location in West Hartford since 1958. Last year, The Children’s Museum served over 200,000 people a year, including visitors and members from the Greater Hartford area, across Connecticut, and throughout New England as well as over 78,000 students from across Connecticut from nearly 800 schools. www.thechildrensmuseumct.org
Contacts: Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration
Michelle Morales - 860.727.0457 (116)
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New Logo. Click to download. |
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Designers Tom Hennes and Jeff Kennedy present Connecticut Science Center Exhibits to Board. Click to download. |
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Members of the Connecticut Science Center Board of Trustees meeting in Hartford on May 26, 2006. Click to download. |
