The end is in sight for the construction at the new science museum in downtown Miami.
The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science is set to open in the summer of 2016 after closing the doors this summer at its old location next to Vizcaya.
There is still a lot of work to be done—holes to fill, glass to install and raw rebar to cover—but the general structure is all up and the exhibit rooms and aquarium tanks are taking shape. The new museum has been under construction since early 2012 and will be more than four times as big as the old museum at 250,000 square feet.
Clearly visible from I-395 is the completed exterior of the round planetarium. “They had to build this dome like they would have had to build an old cathedral like in medieval times,” said Frank Steslow, chief operating officer for the Frost Science Museum and acting tour guide.
And like those cathedrals, museum officials hope this physical building will be a beacon for scientific exploration and learning.
“We’re telling the story of South Florida and these are pieces that we’ve sort of plucked out of South Florida and placed here for you to study and understand,” said Steslow, “but this isn’t the end of the story.”
The rest of the story, he says, is out in the environment. It's an environment the building tries to bring inside as much as possible through open walkways, spectacular views of Government Cut and Miami Beach and rooftop gardens.
Efforts to connect this building to the larger South Florida environment could not be clearer than in the basement, which is waterproofed for 20 feet of floodwaters and/or rising seas.
With such a large building, the museum is having to develop brand new exhibits, which means acquiring new artifacts.
“So we have the potential to acquire a fighter jet that’ll hang from the ceiling, new dinosaur models and fossils, some other surprises that I think you’ll see in the gallery,” said Steslow.
If things go as scheduled, the museum will start building out exhibits at the start of 2016.
