Yesterday, Miami-Dade County Commissioners voted in favor of the expansion of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in Miami. This is an extremely important step forward for the Miami Science Museum as it provides the City with a source of funding for Museum Park, including site remediation, capital construction and eventual maintenance.
The Omni CRA expansion is part of a mega-deal that includes the expansion of the CRA’s bounds by more than 200 acres to include Bicentennial Park and Watson Island. Members of both the City and the County Commissions had doubts about various aspects of the CRA Expansion. However, Miami Science Museum has widespread community support and Museum Park will be accessible and enjoyed by everyone. A world-class park in this unique waterfront location will provide the appropriate framework for our Museum and is expected to have a major economic impact for the City.
I am really pleased about this important milestone and look forward to providing the County Commission with an extensive report on our progress. We’re moving ahead rapidly and are delighted the Commission voted to learn more as this is a major investment for the community. Museum Park will surely become an excellent central gathering spot for the community-at-large. We’re confident that the County Commission will continue to be pleased with our progress moving forward.
Stay connected with us for the latest on the new Miami Science Museum project.
Marine experts from around South Florida met today with members of the new Museum team to take part in a brainstorming workshop focused on advancing the design of the aquarium components of the New Museum’s Living Core. Experts included fish culturists Martin Moe and Julian Sprung; aquaculture researcher Dan Benetti and shark expert Neil Hammerschlag from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science; Jim Robinett from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago; Billy Causey from NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries; conservation biologist Mahmood Shivji from NOVA’s National Coral Reef Institute; Mark Kraus from the Everglades Foundation, and marine scientist and popular science author Ellen Prager. Staff from Thinc, the exhibit design firm responsible for design of the Living Core, also attended the session.
The workshop was the kickoff to an intensive period of exhibit development that will begin next month, drawing on the experts to refine the key messages and content areas of the Living Core. In particular, the group identified specific opportunities for connecting the exhibits to current research; how the exhibits could be used to explore the broad environmental and social impacts of such topics as aquaculture and climate change; ways to use technology to enhance the experience, and ways to engage the public in ongoing research and solutions to environmental challenges. The Museum sees these kinds of workshops as a key strategy for tapping expertise and developing partnerships that will lead to a richer exhibit experience, and will use this approach to develop MiaSci’s other exhibit areas in the months ahead.
Good news! We have received the official green light from Miami-Dade County on continuing to the next phase of New Museum design with the release of the next allotment of General Obligation Funding. In this phase, $9.35 million dollars are being released to complete schematic design of the building and begin detailed design development. This funding release was dependent on negotiations with the City of Miami for the long-term lease on the four-acre site in Museum Park (Bicentennial Park) and site remediation agreements being completed. It’s a definite sign of confidence from the County for our project and we are thankful for their invaluable support.
Interestingly enough, as CEO I often hear, “Why’s it taking so long to get agreements finalized and General Obligation Bond cash released? Wasn’t it voted on in 2004?” In short, the answer is, Yes. The GOB was voted on in 2004 and in reality, creating the legal framework for public-private partnerships is a challenge. The private sector is often working in an accelerated manner and sometimes it’s difficult to follow the Public sector’s processes and extended timelines. However, this is a major project for Miami-Dade County, the biggest public-private project of the GOB. Both the County and City continue to be very supportive. This project could certainly take much longer to complete if we did not have their support.
The important thing to note is that we continue to move ahead smoothly with completing the design of our New Museum building. We’re also keeping to our timeline and plans quite nicely. Our New Museum is shaping up to be an example of a “best practice” in energy management and design. This is all very exciting and I’m confident that this project will have a major impact on the redevelopment of Downtown Miami with its unique combination of science, aquaria, planetarium and history.
We should see a lot more progress in the coming months, so please continue to check back to read updates from my staff, design team and myself. We will all keep you abreast of the exciting milestones ahead.
After debuting the Energy Dance Floor last October, the Museum has now added a video to the exhibit which brings to life the message of ‘Kid Energy’ and animates the inner workings of the dance floor’s tiles. The first of its kind in the US, the floor captures energy from people dancing and converts it to electricity, which is used to power up special LED lighting effects embedded in the tiles. The video also features images and clips from around Miami, as well as dancers from Miami’s own Hip Hop Kidz and South Miami Middle School’s Dance Magnet.
The Energy Dance Floor video is being presented at the Museum on an innovative “floating” screen, but you can also check it out on the Museum’s YouTube channel:
There’s also a separate mini-floor with a thermal camera and a large-screen display, where dancers can see the heat that they’re generating while they dance.
The Energy Dance Floor is part of the Miami Science Museum’s ongoing efforts to prototype new ways for delivering content about renewable energy, in support of the Museum’s new 250,000 square foot LEED-certified building now under development and slated to open in 2014.
A lot of people ask me, “So, what exactly does an Energy Officer do?” and it’s a good question. Some of the things I work on you might expect: In an effort to test how we will present energy content at the new museum, we are developing a new exhibit called Energy Tracker set to debut early next year. Energy Tracker will take visitors to different stations throughout the museum that will feature hands-on interactives exploring everything from basic energy principles to renewable energy. To add to the experience, the exhibit will feature an activity that will challenge you the visitor to track down energy as it changes from one type to the next. I am working to help conceptualize the exhibit, write the content, and research future exhibit pieces we might add to Energy Tracker or even the new museum.
Some of the things I do, however, are a bit…different. Since joining the staff I’ve “dug around” in green roofs, played with a giant water wheel, and even danced on television (for a special piece we did for NBC 6). Then yesterday I was bean counting, literally. I spent part of my day counting how many black beans there were in a typical can. Why, you ask? You’ll have to come to the museum in February to find out. That’s when we’ll be debuting four new table- top exhibits including one on food energy.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas about energy and sustainability content at the museum, feel free to write me at: ctrigg@miamisci.org.
One of the key goals for MiaSci is for the building to serve as a leading example of energy efficiency and sustainable design. To support this goal, the Museum installed a weather station downtown at the new site in Museum Park, to collect data on rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiance and other variables. The project’s architects and engineers have been using these data to design a building that harnesses the renewable energy resources available at the site – sun, wind and water – to support MiaSci’s energy and educational goals.
The following link provide an overview of these real-time data:
The Museum is also making these data available to visitors, school groups, researchers and other professionals, and developing related web-based materials and activities. The first of these, the Solar Energy Challenge, allows visitors to explore solar energy as a source of power for their homes. Through this web-based activity, visitors try to make it through a typical day using only energy from the sun. They can choose how many solar panels to put on their home, and then turn various appliances on and off to see how much of their household energy need can be met by the selected system. Click the link below to try it out:
The Solar Energy Challenge is the first component of an online Energy Portal being developed by the Museum, which when finished will provide access to data streams from not only the weather station but the Green Roof Demonstration Project as well as the solar array and vertical axis wind-turbine to be installed as demonstration exhibits at the current facility in the next few months.
This project is supported by the Building Better Communities Bond Program and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners of Miami-Dade County. Additional support provided by:
Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
City of Miami Mayor and Board of City Commissioners
