In addition to debuting two new exhibits, Discovery World staff announced that the science center on downtown Milwaukee’s lakefront will return to being open seven days a week during the summer, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Slated to start on Monday, the extended schedule marks the first time since 2019 that Discovery World has been open seven days a week to the general public.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Discovery World had periods of the year – like during summer and other school breaks – when it was open seven days a week. But the pandemic forced the museum to curtail those hours, keeping the museum closed to most folks on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The return to extended hours during peak seasons, said Bryan Wunar, president and CEO for Discovery World, was made in response to better attendance numbers and to better serve families.
Block Party
The extended hours come with the showcasing of a brand-new exhibit, called Block Party, aimed at giving the museum’s youngest visitors a hands-on way to learn about the shapes and architectural elements that make up their built environment.
On Friday morning, museum boosters and donors got a sneak peek of the exhibit – a wide open space on the lower mezzanine filled with large foam building blocks and surrounded by brightly colored, Art Deco-like drawings of iconic Milwaukee buildings. The images – including a rosy interpretation of the Milwaukee Gas Light building at 626 E. Wisconsin Avenue – and the foam building blocks, which include everything from domes and arches to columns and hinges, are meant to help children explore their inner-builder and designer through play.
“We want to encourage our younger users to think like engineers by building structures,” Wunar said, adding that the exhibit is just part of a new mission to better serve younger children.
“As we went through the pandemic, we used it to do some strategic planning, and try to better understand our attendees,” he added. “We serve a lot of school-age children, but we started thinking more about the four- and five-year-olds, and what role we could play in supporting parents and caregivers of those children. This is a step in that direction.”
Me, Undersea
Another new addition to the museum can be found in The Reiman Aquarium. Called Me, Undersea, the exhibit is a repurposing of sorts of its underwater labs, which were three pods displaying diving gear and the impact of water pressure on the human body. Instead of focusing on how humans adapt to the deep sea, the new exhibit features engaging cutouts of deepwater creatures, like anglerfish and the Japanese spider crab that glow under blacklights to mimic how their real-life counterparts adapt to their environment with bioluminescence.
Visitors can also use microscopes to see plankton up close, while still exploring remote operated vehicles that allow scientists to explore the depths of the ocean.
Like the building images in Block Party, the stylized undersea creatures were all created by the museum’s graphic designer, Lily Johnson,
“As we have come back and brought our staff back online, we have learned a lot about the talents of our staff,” Wunar said. “These internal partnerships have been really great from a staff morale standpoint, and gives our team something to be really proud of.”
Harnessing the sun
Wunar is equally proud of the 650 solar panels that were recently installed on Discovery World’s roof. Part of a partnership with We Energies, the panels won’t be powering the museum, but are expected to return enough energy to the electrical grid to power about 100 single-family homes.
Since the panels won’t be easy for the average museum goer to see, Discovery World is also installing an “E-cacia” solar tree on its grounds fronting Lincoln Memorial Drive.
Designed to improve the aesthetic of solar power projects, the sculpture-like installation is meant to complement the surroundings of Milwaukee’s lakefront while also allowing visitors to see solar power in action. The tree will be lit at night using only the solar energy it generates during the day, Wunar said.
It’s expected to be installed later this month.
