A relocation of a science museum with advanced exhibition contents in Columbus, Ohio. COSIthe Center of Science and Industry, has been in operation for 35 years and to deal with the ever progressing exhibits, an enlargement of the facility and the betterment of its equipment became a necessity. The meandering River Scioto lies to the west of down town Columbus. The new site was located on its west bank where an old Beaux- Arts high school, designated as a national historic building, stood in a monumental setting.
The program called for 20,000 meters sq of internal exhibition space, 2 special kinds of theaters, an open public space and the preservation and incorporation of a part the old high school into the project. First a curved wall was set facing west, responding to the fact that historically here was the pioneering frontier to the vast plains which spread westward. Elliptical in plan and gently curving in section, the massive sublime wall over scales the architecture and relates to the site’s monumentality and to the urban scale. 20m in height and 300m in length, it is made of pre-cast concrete shell members. Inside it houses 2 floors of exhibition space each with a floor height of 9m which is connected to the main north-south circulation spine. The main entrance sits in the center of this curve as a cylinder wrapped in golden metal siding with the space theater above.
On the opposite east side, as though to respond to the waves of civilization and history, the old high school was transformed into a formal entrance facing downtown.
A lobby in a sky-lit cubical atrium connects the west; the future / progress, and the east; the past / tradition. The old high school and the main circulation spine resting parallel to the typical midwestern Jefferson grid, the main entrance on the geographical north-south axis and the 2 sky lights on the atrium set on the magnetic north-south axis are band together at this public domain.
In this project, typical of provincial American cities where the budget is extremely low and multiple clients and public movement organizations are involved, typical Japanese design process and methods were put aside to make way for finishes and details most available locally, thus simplifying the construction system.