Arizona Science Center 1, 600 East Washington Street, Phonenix

The Arizona Science Center, at 600 East Washington Street in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

located in

Heritage and Science Park Heritage and Science Park, located between East Monroe, East Washington, North 5th and North 7th Streets in downtown Phoenix, Arizona includes Heritage Square – a historic site anchored by the Rosson House – the Arizona Science Cente ...

. It was founded in 1984 as the Arizona Museum of Science & Technology in a downtown storefront, Its current building, designed by

Antoine Predock Antoine Predock ( ; born 1936 in Lebanon, Missouri) is an American architect based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the principal of Antoine Predock Architect PC, the studio he founded in 1967. Predock first gained national attention with the La ...

, was completed in 1997. Along with daily demonstrations throughout the Center, the Center provides shows in the Dorrance Planetarium and in a five-story, giant screen

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

Theater.

History

Arizona Science Center, formerly the Arizona Museum of Science & Technology, was conceived in 1980 as a pilot science center by the

Junior League The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

of Phoenix. The Science Center opened its doors to the public in 1984 as a small storefront exhibition space located in the parking garage level of the downtown Phoenix Hyatt. The Science Center’s first year of operation saw more than 87,000 visitors. Following sustained demand, construction of the ,

-designed facility was completed in 1997. When the Science Center moved to its present location, Heritage Square was renamed

. Among the museum's best-known programs is the annual Snow Week. In 2009, the museum reached an agreement with the adjacent, closed

Phoenix Museum of History The Phoenix Museum of History was a history museum located in Phoenix, Arizona's Heritage and Science Park. The museum opened in the 1920s and its first home was on 10th Avenue and Van Buren where it remained until it moved to the rebranded Heri ...

to showcase their collection. As of March 2022, Guy Labine is the museum's president and CEO.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Phoenix, Arizona Planetaria in the United States Museums in Phoenix, Arizona Science museums in Arizona Antoine Predock buildings