Discovery Place

[eastsider]

SW, SE - it's still South, that's why I pointed out that the linked article specifies southeast.

[cltheel.sdl]

In elementary school they teach that the SW is Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

[schmopperX]

There will always be conservative groups working against this kind of event. It's a very strong sign of progress that DP doesn't seem too worried about backlash; 20 years ago they probably wouldn't have taken the risk.

[schmopperX]

Honestly I don't think this is going to cause too negative of a reaction, or we'd be hearing it already. Let's hope the village idiots don't get on the warpath.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

I'd say Dallas is southern. Visit Highland Park if you don't believe me. Old south money, baby! Houston is actually less southern because of the large hispanic influence. BUT, it has a southern flair. SA and Ft. Worth, Waco, Austin and points west are SW and North Texas, East Texas and coastal texas are southern and West and Central Texas are SouthWestern.

[uptownliving]

A rep from Discovery Place reported to City Council reported that they had completed their master plan and are in the process of selecting a designer for their $30M renovation. They hope to start the renovation mid/late 2008 and be done by the end of 2009.

[queensguy06]

Has DP given any specifics as to what the $30 million will be used to upgrade?

[uptownliving]

Has DP given any specifics as to what the $30 million will be used to upgrade?

[Justadude]

This past Saturday DC set an attendance record of 6,500, largely due to people rushing to get a final glimpse of the Body Words exhibit. The Observer says that Sunday was pushing close to the record as well, with over 6,000 tickets sold by 7:30 pm. The same article mentions that Body Worlds smashed the exhibit-attendance record set by the Dead Sea Scrolls in 2006, and that the previous single-day record was set during the T-Rex exhibit in 2004.

Lost in all this is the fact that Discovery Place, which nearly fell off the map during the 1990s as it tried to keep up with technological change and lose its early-80s vibe, has come roaring back as a major attraction. They'll be going into the renovations on a high note and will undoubtedly be looking to get another high-profile exhibit when they reopen.

[cltheel.sdl]

I'd like to see the new renderings for the renovation. Are they out yet? Will they be doing any exterior work or mainly just interior?

[BlueDevil37]

I live near discovery place and walk by the block on Tryon between 6th and 7th on a daily basis. It's always very desolate and depressing due to the lack of any sort of retail and an unusually long roof overhang on the block (a lot of loitering goes on in this block too)--do you think they have any plans to transform this into a more street friendly block with the renovation money?

[Justadude]

Without any insider info to rely on, I would certainly imagine that the renovation will involve some changes to make the museum more street-friendly. There's a TON of potential to have exhibits face those windows, giving pedestrians something to watch as they walk by... which already happens to a limited extent. And of course there's plenty of room to move the streetside wall farther out, under the overhang, expanding the size of the interior and allowing a fresh start for the facade.

[Andyc545]

No- Discovery Place will not be receiving an exterior renovation under the current budget. Originially it was suppose to get an exterior and interior renovation, however, some of the funds got lost due to some of the money going to the arena (correct me if I'm wrong). Indeed though, it was mentioned recently that they were only focusing on the interior and minor details on the exterior at best, unless of course funds change in the next few weeks (Given renovation begins soon).

As far as pedestrian streetscape improvement, they are altering the main entrance on Tryon and moving the food court and gift shop, suppose to be more inviting, and I hear they are adding an additional entrance (On Church, maybe) or is it on the Avenue side, I forget. Of course most of the money will be allocated to huge upgrades and bring the place up to technology, and reestablishing almost all of the (outdated) exhibits, where some have sat since the mid-80's.

Originally- they want to make it larger (adding a floor), however that also got cut with the exterior improvements.

[atlrvr]

The Discovery Place IS getting an exterior face lift (though not a total make-over).....with most notable feature is that the main entrace will be on 6th St. instead of Tryon....I think this is a bad idea in general as it takes even more foot traffic off of Tryon....perhaps there will be some of gift shop on Tryon. The entrance from the parking deck will remain.

Sorry, no renderings to share.

[Andyc545]

The Discovery Place IS getting an exterior face lift (though not a total make-over).....with most notable feature is that the main entrace will be on 6th St. instead of Tryon....I think this is a bad idea in general as it takes even more foot traffic off of Tryon....perhaps there will be some of gift shop on Tryon. The entrance from the parking deck will remain.

Sorry, no renderings to share.

[rockhilljames]

The original $90 million budget included a complete architectural overhaul of Discovery Place. When the bond issue that was bundled with the arena was shot down, Discovery Place had to resort to a capital campaign that, when coupled with support from the Arts Council, netted them about $60 million. Rather than wait any longer the decision was made to move forward with the smaller budget.

When deciding what to cut, the "reskinning" of DP was cut rather than the inside. Original plans called for more floorspace and a "silo" facing Tryon that would have been the main entrance. With the cuts the front entrance will be an expanded ticketing area off 6th. The gift shop will move from Tryon to 6th and you will enter and exit through the shop (there's a surprise). The space the shop took up will be used for exhibits. The interior area is going to me much more flexible, they'll gut the inside and create open areas that have moving walls to easily open up spaces for larger exhibits, look for things along the lines of Dead Sea Scrolls and Body Works all the time now as opposed to once every few years.

There might still be a small entrance/exit off Tryon, but not much of one and certainly no ticketing. I don't like pulling people off Tryon either, so hopefully they'll do something to add to the streetscape along 6th.

[Justadude]

I would've liked to see the gift shop expanded into a full-sized retail store, focusing on educational-but-still-pretty-cool items for children. That would've made a great storefront for Tryon, which currently lacks retail on that scale. They could've put a turnstile in back of the store so it would be accessible to streetside shoppers and still function as an exit for museum visitors... that way the store would catch both museum traffic AND window-shoppers. If that had been the case, moving the museum entrance to 6th St. wouldn't be such a big deal.

Oh well.

[rockhilljames]

Well, in that regard consider it retail along 6th. The ticketing counter will be outside the gift shop, so you'll be able to come in and shop around without actually going into Discovery Place. It will be the main entrance and exit point for the museum.