The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh is a hands-on interactive
children's museum
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...
in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. It is in the
Allegheny Center neighborhood in Pittsburgh's
Northside.
History
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh was founded in 1983 in the old
Allegheny Post Office, gifted to the museum by the
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, and is situated on Pittsburgh's North Side, formerly
Allegheny City. The neighboring Buhl Planetarium building was vacated by 1991 when it was superseded by the nearby
Kamin Science Center. The museum grew from a traveling mobile museum started at the
Three Rivers Arts Festival in 1972, and was part of the first wave of children's museums spreading across the country at that time.
New building
In the early 2000s, it was announced the museum would be expanding from the old
Beaux Arts-style post office into the neighboring vacant
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
Buhl Planetarium. A plan was devised by
Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Inc. to connect the two historic structures with a modern glass addition over what was a street called Allegheny Square. The street was vacated and realigned and the addition was built.
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh became the largest Silver LEED certified museum in the country in March 2006. This validates that the museum's expansion has been designed and constructed using sustainable practices with particular attention to site development, water conservation, energy management, using recycled materials, waste management, reusing resources, indoor air quality as well as developing new programs for visitors. To offer teaching moments about the new
green museum, many of the building's structural and mechanical systems are left exposed.
Buhl Community Park
In 2010, officials announced plans to rehab a rundown park in front of the museum. The centerpiece of the new park is a
fog sculpture by
Ned Kahn. The park opened on June 23, 2012, during a community celebration.
Grounds
In its seasonal "Backyard", the museum grounds includes an interactive environment called "Allegheny Waterworks" which incorporates preserved local architectural relics.
A garden on the grounds once displayed sculptures of
Guyasuta,
Christopher Gist and others, designed by sculptor
Charles Keck and rescued from the
Manchester Bridge when it was razed in 1970. The garden was removed in the 2000s to make room for more parking. The Guyasuta and Gist sculptures have been reinstalled near
Stage AE in the
North Shore neighborhood.
Exhibits
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh houses several ongoing exhibits as well as rotating exhibits. The MAKESHOP, Kindness Gallery, Studio, Backyard, Garage, Garden, Theater, Waterplay, and Nursery areas are ongoing interactive exhibits and encourage touch and play. Also located within the museum are iconic items from the show ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood''. These include the original puppets, one of
Fred Rogers' sweaters, and his sneakers.
Programs
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh presents a wide variety of programs for children in fields ranging from dance and rocket building to quilting and robotics. Visiting artists offer workshops in a host of media, including pottery, Japanese paper cutting, animation and painting. The museum's extensive outreach program offers performances, workshops, after school programs, artist days and festival programs for schools and groups throughout the year. Educational field trips are offered for local schools, scouts and other groups. The museum has collaborated with a number of regional institutions and programs, such as the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
and the ''
Create a Comic Project''.
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[Shepherd, Jeremy. "Otakon 2009: Manga, Literacy, and Children.]
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Awards
The addition has received numerous awards, including a 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Trust for Historic Preservation award, LEED silver certification, and an award from American Institute of Architects.
Children's Museum Executive Director Jane Werner received the Green Building Alliance 2006 Shades of Green Leadership Award which celebrates leaders who have helped transform the Pittsburgh region into a more sustainable place to live and work. Werner's contributions cited include launching a new program/initiative supporting green-building related activities; raising significant community awareness and outreach of green issues through materials, programs and events; and influencing the adoption of a program/policy through advocacy efforts and implementing green management and operation policies within the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.
References
External links
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh official site
{{Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Museums in Pittsburgh
Children's museums in Pennsylvania
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design basic silver certified buildings
Museums established in 1983
City of Pittsburgh historic designations
1983 establishments in Pennsylvania