Baylor begins construction on $23 million
natural science and cultural history complex
___WACO--Construction has begun on Baylor University's Harry and Anna Jeanes Discovery Center, centerpiece of the Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum Complex.
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CALVIN SMITH, director of the Mayborn Museum Complex and chair of the department of museum studies at Baylor University, shows off the property now under development.
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___The complex will be located off Interstate 35 on University Parks Drive. The $23 million building project also will include a support wing, which will be home to Baylor's Center for Museum Studies.
___Baylor officials expect more than 200,000 visitors annually at the Discovery Center, which is designed to provide a state-of-the-art science and cultural history experience for the children and families of Central Texas. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the center was held Jan. 31. The facility is projected for completion in 2004.
___The mission of the Mayborn Museum Complex will be to tell the story of Central Texas, taking visitors on a journey through the beginning of the universe through prehistoric Texas, Native American times and Spanish contact periods to how Texans live today. Artifacts, dioramas, text panels and interactive computer-generated information areas will work together to interpret the natural and cultural history of Central Texas.
___The Discovery Center will include a 30,000-square-foot exhibit hall for permanent exhibits, a 30,000-square-foot hands-on educational center for children and families, a 200-seat high-resolution theater with a stage for first-person vignettes of life in the past and conferences, lecturers, and a 5,500-square-foot gallery for traveling and special exhibits.
___The complex also will include an interactive exhibit on Baylor's history, as well as a wall-sized relief map illustrating the geological, paleontological and cultural processes that have shaped Texas.
___Also in the complex, the Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village will showcase more than 20 reconstructed buildings from the 1890s that provide a living-history experience for visitors.
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