The Perot Museum of Nature and Science

Everything about this museum is unique, from the pre-cast concrete on the outside, to the exterior escalators, to the innovative exhibitions which in December have started presenting the revolutionary structure through stimulating hands-on experiences. Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his partners of Morphosis Architects conceived the Perot encounter as a journey, a story in which to walk and discover hundreds of living science lessons.
The construction is today one of the boldest pieces of modern architecture to hit Dallas, Texas, being considered as a fusion between a natural site and an exhibit of displaced geology.

In the inside pipes and cables can be visible from the ceilings and walls, painted in different colors according to the function, in order to teach yet another lesson on how the system comes alive within the building. This transparency in content is also accompanied by the striking 54-foot continuous flow exterior escalator, contained in a glass tube-like structure trough which the staggering view of a river, pond and rich green fields can be appreciated.
The special relationship between the building and landscape environment can in fact provide a 21st century sense of how we understand nature in ecological terms, which as Mayne states is today an absolutely crucial issue. The project has been developed locally and sustainably, with the landscape design celebrating an abstract-cross section of Texas and with a building plinth roof which homes drought-tolerant plants native of the region.

Although it will feed curiosity at any age, the targeted users of the museum are children, functioning as a vital instrument for expanding their imaginations and opening their minds to the fields of architecture and engineering. Hosting eleven permanent exhibit halls, the museum will teach on Discovering Life, Being Human, The Expanding Universe and much, much more.