News

09.24.2004

Cesar Pelli Selected to Design Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration

The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration Board of Trustees today selected world renown Connecticut architect Cesar Pelli to design a state-of-the-art science center in Hartford. The Center also announced that the project is now within $26 million of its overall fundraising goal of $150 million.

“The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration has achieved two more important milestones,” said Pfizer Inc. Chairman Dr. Henry A. McKinnell, chairman of the Center’s Board of Trustees. “We have selected a world class architect to design the facility, and we are announcing $10.5 million in leadership commitments from members of the Board.”

The new science center, which will be built on a site overlooking the Connecticut River in Downtown Hartford, will be designed over the next year.

Cesar Pelli & Associates, of New Haven, brings to the project a unique combination and depth of experience in commissions for major cultural institutions in urban contexts and research and scientific learning environments. The firm is recognized for designing projects in the public realm that create a sense of place and are inviting and welcoming.

“The Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration will be a building that will communicate the excitement of science to the surrounding streets, river, and highway,” said Pelli in his proposal for the project. “The forms are ambitious and dynamic. They appear to reach out, beyond their physical limits.”

The architect was selected after a competition, during which four world class firms presented their concepts for a landmark building. As part of the selection process, the Board also considered the firms’ responsiveness to the Center’s needs in documents, designs and interviews, as well as information gathered during site visits to facilities designed by the candidates, an array of public comment, and from advisors including Yale School of Architecture Dean Robert A. M. Stern and Urban Planner Ken Greenberg.

“We believe we have selected a firm that can bring excitement and creativity to this landmark institution, as well as the technical and operational capability to meet our schedule and budget,” said Cheryl A. Chase, executive vice president and general counsel of Chase Enterprises, and the chair of the committee that led the architect selection. “The selection process, especially the well attended public presentations, gave us valuable insight into the capabilities of the firms, and had the added benefit of exciting our community about one of the great applications of science - architecture.”

The Center will be built with a combination of public and private funds, including $10.5 million in pledges from the six members of the Center’s Board of Trustees announced by Dr. McKinnell, who leads the fundraising campaign as chair of the Finance Committee.

“These commitments reflect the strong leadership of our Board, which I trust will continue to set the pace as the campaign moves forward,” said Dr. McKinnell. “I would like to thank everyone for their commitments. These are tremendously generous gifts, and I know that we will have still more good news to announce in December.”

Pfizer Foundation $5,000,000
United Technologies Corporation $2,000,000
Aetna Foundation $1,500,000
Cheryl Chase & Stuart Bear Family Foundation and the
Rhoda and David Chase Family Foundation $1,000,000
The Hartford Financial Services Group $500,000
Steven A. Denning & Roberta Denning Bowman $500,000
TOTAL: $10,500,000

As part of the Center’s ongoing establishment of a statewide base of leadership and support, the Trustees welcomed new members General Electric Chairman & CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, Northeast Utilities, Inc. Chairman & CEO Charles W. Shivery, Evolution Benefits, Inc. Chairman & CEO Robert E. Patricelli, Thomson Corporation Chairman & CEO Richard Harrington, Barnes Group Chairman Thomas Barnes, and People’s Bank Chairman & CEO John A. Klein.

“We are now able to move forward with great momentum into the next stage of the project, which includes designing the facility,” said Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration President Dr. Ted Sergi. “The competition gave us some very exciting design ideas, and we will soon begin the formal design process, and we will be asking for continued public participation in that exciting process.”