Discovery Place Builds Toward Future with New Exhibitions

April 23, 2010

Project Build follows shelter from protective need to aesthetic desire
Think It Up brings out the innovator in everyone
Open Saturday, May 1

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Discovery Place breaks new ground on Saturday, May 1 when it reveals Project Build, one of the final openings in a series of new and original exhibitions that comprise the largest renovation in the Museum’s history. Also opening is Think It Up, a “thought studio” that encourages participants to recognize and cultivate their abilities to create and innovate.

Presented by Balfour Beatty Construction, Project Build encourages want-to-be architects to explore the concept of shelter and why humans build it, the influences on the creation of shelter, and the evolution of that art over time. When it comes to building, design and utility have now become as important as construction and engineering. Visitors to Project Build have the opportunity to understand and interpret subjective elements as they explore style, use and setting in relation to building.

“Project Build digs deep into the ideas behind the built world. Like Discovery Place itself, humans’ concept of shelter has evolved from the ground up,” said John Mackay, president and CEO of Discovery Place. “Humans have always built to stay protected, but over time we have developed a proclivity to make buildings stylish, convenient and useful.”

Construction takes on a new form as guests tap their primitive instincts, strategically building forts and other structures critical to human survival. From there, they unleash their inner architects, creating building sketches, developing floor plans, and designing functional and useful buildings through multimedia programs. A state-of-the-art Microsoft Surface table allows mixing and matching of art and design from different periods, demonstrating how reinterpretation can lead to new ideas. Visitors young and old can challenge their creativity with the immensely popular Build It! blocks, as well as view impressive models of the Eiffel Tower, Transamerica Pyramid and the Mayan Temple of Kukulcan.

Visitors transform from architects of design to architects of ideas as they enter the hip, new “thought studio” in Think It Up. Inspiration, imagination and innovation are the driving forces in this multi-sensory world of color, light, sound and creation. Filled with activities designed to bring out the innovator in everyone, guests hone their intuitive talents through collaboration, problem-solving, risk-taking, boundary-pushing and celebration of creative accomplishments.

Presented by The Duke Energy Foundation, Think It Up’s cutting-edge interactive activities embody a stunning, original museum experience that encourages out-of-the-box thinking and creative solution-finding. Entering the exhibition, participants meet Dune, an interactive sculpture from the Netherlands that senses and responds to visitors with LED lights and sounds. Giant air tubes and a mechanical launcher allow participants to experiment with creating shapes out of paper and foam to see how effectively their creations will travel through air. In the 3D Studio, participants can make foil sculptures or use scrap materials to create and design prototypes of shoes in Designing Footwear. Share Stations located throughout the exhibition offer innovators the opportunity to photograph and share their creations via email or at http://thinkitup.discoveryplace.org. Guests are encouraged to leave their creations on display as inspiration for others.

“The Museum is pushing new boundaries with the exhibits in Think It Up,” said Mackay. “It’s a space that proves that anyone can brainstorm, spark new ideas, and be an innovator. And, it’s an area with technology, sound and video that will appeal to today’s teens that are growing up immersed in multimedia.”

Sophisticated digital technology allows masterminds-in-the-making to experiment with stop motion animation as well as a 2D digital mural that projects images they have designed at touch screens on to a large holographic screen, combining them with others’ creations. Music buffs will be drawn to the giant Optimusic sensor array, one of the largest of its kind in the world, where they cross a fog screen into a dome of lights, creating music through body movement. Nearby, the Reactable, a state-of-the-art hybrid of an electronic musical instrument and a visual experience, creates music through the placement of unique shapes that trigger sound clips and audio modulation.

The renovation of Discovery Place concludes in June with the reveal of the Museum’s final new, original exhibitions celebrating biodiversity of life and featuring live animals.

Discovery Place is open Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday noon – 5 p.m. Admission to Discovery Place is $10 for adults (14-59); $8 for seniors (60 and older) and children (2-13); free for children younger than 2. Discounts are available for Discovery Place Members and for groups of 15 or more.

About Discovery Place
Discovery Place is located in uptown Charlotte at 301 N. Tryon Street. Convenient parking is available in the Museum’s parking garage - the Carol Grotnes Belk Complex - at the corner of Sixth and Church Streets. For more information about Discovery Place, call 704-372-6261 or visit discoveryplace.org.

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that engage the public in the active exploration of science and nature. More than a half-million people from all over the United States visit Discovery Place, its IMAX Dome Theatre and Charlotte Nature Museum each year. Discovery Place is supported, in part, with a Basic Operating Grant from the Arts & Science Council.