MANILA, Philippines—It’s shaped like a flying saucer and big enough to hold the earth, the universe, four kinds of environment and a T-Rex.
A modern science museum, which promises visitors a multisensory experience, will be built at a cost of P1 billion in a sprawling park at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
The Mind Museum, expected to open by 2010, was conceived by the Bonifacio Arts Foundation Inc. (Bafi), whose board of trustees includes Joselito Campos Jr., Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Jaime I. Ayala.
A team of experts in different fields, like national artist Ben “BenCab” Cabrera and other Filipino artists, is collaborating to conceptualize and design the exhibits.
To be built in West Crescent Park in Bonifacio Global City, the museum features the story of the atom, the varieties of life, the mystery inside the earth, the majesty of the universe and the evolution of technology.
Thus, the museum’s main galleries on the ground level are called Atom, Life, Earth and Universe. Another gallery devoted entirely to Technology will be on the upper level.
Science in fascinating way
The idea is to teach visitors the principles of science and how they are applied in a holistic way.
“Science is not something that you only study in school,” The Mind Museum curator Maria Isabel Garcia says in an interview. “We want to emphasize that science happens every day, that you’re better off understanding the world than just leaving it to scientists, or leaving it in the [classroom] when you’re done with school.”
Yes, there will be art. However, the galleries’ main draw will be the melange of interactive, multimedia and multisensory science exhibits, designed by Filipino artists.
“Every exhibit is visual, auditory and tactile,” says Garcia, award-winning author of science books and a science columnist for a newspaper. “We want to present science in a fascinating way.”
Atom, life galleries
For instance, in the Atom gallery which has the theme, “The Strange World of the Very Small,” the centerpiece is an atomic capsule that will show what happens inside an atom.
“We’re consulting with scientists, physicists and chemists to help us understand what happens mathematically inside an atom. [We’ve also asked] an artist to render it visually on the computer so people aged 6 to 96 will understand and appreciate the importance of the atom,” Garcia says.
Visitors are in for a multisensory experience when they walk into the Life gallery, which will feature an escalator-powered vessel that allows people to experience different temperatures.
“We will give you four different environments in the ascent and descent—[You will feel what] it’s like to be in the desert, in the tropics, in temperate and polar regions,” Garcia says.
Earth, universe
In the Earth gallery, visitors can expect to view a replica of T-Rex (Tyrannosaurus rex is a large carnivorous dinosaur), cast from real fossils of the most complete T-Rex ever unearthed. They can also watch films about the Earth’s history inside a nautilus-inspired theater.
“In 12 minutes, [the film] will give you the history in multiple screens—designed to look like a nautilus to give you a sense of time,” Garcia says.
The Universe gallery houses a planetarium, where kids can lie down on “memory foams,” and view short films about the universe on overhead screens.
Technology
“It’s an intimate experience of the universe. We want you to experience the night sky just like when you were kids, lying on the lawn, staring and pointing to the stars,” Garcia says.
The oval-shaped Technology gallery is located on the second level to show that technology is founded on the sciences.
Here, visitors can check out the wide array of scientific instruments and still have an open view of the galleries on the ground floor. Hopefully, they would understand how the two levels are intertwined.
The Technology gallery, the largest of the five, is further divided into different exhibitions “according to how we value things,” says Garcia.
“If you want to know how a digital camera works and how it’s different from the old cameras, there’s an interactive exhibit that will explain the technology then and now,” she says.
Another exhibit features Filipino expressions in art, literature and communication.
Board of trustees
The Bafi’s board of trustees also includes Anna Margarita Dy, Mariano John Tan Jr., Edgardo Cruz Jr., Aileen Zosa, Carlos Rufino and Vicky Garchitorena.
The board commissioned Garcia and Manny Blas to draw up the concept for the science museum. The pair then formed an advisory council with BenCab, McCann World Group Asia Pacific chair emeritus Emily Abrera, St. Luke’s Medical Center medical director and art patron Dr. Joven Cuanang, physicists Dr. Jerrold Garcia and Dr. Cesar Saloma, cognitive psychologist Dr. Emy Liwag and Dr. Joey Balmaceda of the National Institute of Math to conceptualize the exhibits.
The group engaged artists from the University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas to collaborate on the design of the science exhibits, and later signed up Jack Rouse Associates and Science Center Singapore as consultants.
Eco-friendly marvel
The Bafi, which is funded partly by contributions of property owners in the Bonifacio Global City, is providing the seed money and raising additional funds for the project.
A initial group of companies, namely Ajinomoto Philippines Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Del Monte Philippines, Globe Telecom, IMI Group of Companies, NutriAsia Inc., Manila Water Corp. and R.A. Mojica and Partners, has committed P195 million for the project.
The museum, which occupies half of the 12,500-square meter West Crescent Park, is an architectural marvel with eco-friendly features.
It will use a light-colored exterior for solar reflectivity and a sweeping curved roof to ensure rainwater flow into a drainage. It will have a large glazed opening for natural wind ventilation and a tilted face for minimal heat reflection.
“Everyone would sense that it’s a flying saucer, but when you analyze it, it responds to the forces in the environment: Wind, sun and rain,” says architect Ed Calma, who designed the building.
