On the eve of the re-opening of our marvellous Experiment gallery, we’d like to introduce to our newest and undoubtedly most mysterious member of the MOSI team. He looks a bit like Morph. He is a skilled contortionist and he possesses a range of outfits to rival Lady Gaga.
Oh… One more thing… Nobody here knows his name!
This little dude is the new face of the Experiment gallery. We know very little about him, although we suspect that he is a Mancunian by birth, given his ever present smile and confident swagger! All we know for sure is that he is absolutely crazy about science! He’ll be an ever present in Experiment; helping children of all ages discover how things work, how we work, how to make waste work and how the world works.
You can meet him from 10am tomorrow in our fantastic and inspiring new Experiment gallery.
A hectic day at MOSI today as staff from across the Museum have been working feverishly to prepare for a variety of projects and events – including the long term gallery developments and events scheduled to open this very weekend!
This afternoon, groups of MOSI staff had their first official tours of the new Experiment gallery as work continued to complete the gallery in time for the provisional preview opening date of December 11th. Positive feedback was unanimous from the staff and we are all eagerly anticipating our visitors’ reactions come the opening date. For a taste of what you can expect, click here for the latest Experiment photographic update.
Meanwhile, on the Ground Floor of the Great Western Warehouse, work in the Revolution Manchester gallery is reaching fever pitch as the installation of this amazing gallery continues. The fit-out contractors from 24 Design have been working steadily away in the gallery for quite some time, installing timber supporting structures and frames and handrails throughout the gallery. Over the past two weeks, they have been joined by staff from the MOSI Collections department and our dedicated teams of volunteers who have been extremely busy bringing in just some of the iconic exhibits that will now call the Revolution Manchester gallery home. As we promised yesterday, our visit to Revolution Manchester did not go undocumented, click here for our latest photographic update. For information on how you can be star in Revolution Manchester, click here.
Elsewhere at the Museum, staff from our Development team have been scurrying away to create a Santa’s Grotto in our historic Station Building. As we blogged earlier this week, our Grotto is just one of many events that we have planned for festive period. Our Festive Grotto he will be open at weekends throughout December and it promises to be a quite incredible and unique opportunity to meet Santa with such a momentous backdrop.
If you are visiting MOSI this weekend, don’t forget to share your experiences and photographs with us and the rest of the MOSI Facebook community by joining our Facebook fan page. Our photo competition returns on Monday due to popular demand so get submitting those pictures for the chance to have your photograph represent the Museum on Facebook and Twitter.
That is all from the MOSI Blog team this week; we hope you have a wonderful weekend. Check back next week for more news from your favourite museum.
Following yesterdays disruption caused by the particularly heavy snow over the Pennines (we’re still largely unscathed here in Manchester); the Experiment team have been working hard to make up for lost time. The installation of graphics is progressing at a steady rate and the MOSI Technical Services team are applying the finishing touches to the interactive exhibits in the gallery, installing spot lighting, electrical supplies and touching up paintwork. As outsiders to the design process to date, we must admit to being massively impressed with the exhibits within the gallery, we're particularly amazed by the transformation of the existing exhibits - what were tired and uninspiring exhibits in the previous incarnation of Experiment have been reworked and are now really bold, fascinating and inspirational. The new dark area is quite simply amazing!
To permanently commemorate their work in the gallery each individual member of the installation team has signed a plastic milk bottle which has been included as part of a backdrop to a new set of recycling exhibits funded by the SITA Trust. Not to be outdone, the MOSI Blog team have ensured that our contribution to the project is also permanently remembered!
Elsewhere, we’ve been guilty of not blogging the progress made in the Revolution Manchester gallery. This was quite deliberate. We believe that the Revolution Manchester gallery is going to be a spectacular introductory gallery quite unlike anything you have seen in a UK museum before and we certainly don’t want to spoil the surprise. However, we’re proud of this little slice of the blogosphere and we’re even more proud of the small band of loyal friends that we have acquired from around the world. We would be doing you a disservice if we didn’t sneak you an update or two from within the gallery. So, as a Friday treat, and to round off our first complete week of blogging, we’ll be donning our hi-vis vests and hard-hats to bring you a full photographic update from what will be the mind-blowing Revolution Manchester gallery.
In the meantime, we've thrown some snaps of Revolution Manchester taking shape, viewed from the all new Experiment gallery directly above, into today's photographic update.
Given the weather, it is perhaps unsurprising that there is a winter theme to today’s blog. To date Central Manchester has been relatively unscathed by the blizzards hitting the UK. However, the weather has had its impact – the team working on graphics for the Experiment gallery have been caught in 12 inches of snow in Sheffield – meaning that work on the gallery has been restricted to the installation of exhibits. As a result there is a lack of obvious visual progress, meaning we’ve only got a very brief photographic update from within Experiment. We don’t like our blog fans to feel short changed so we have thrown in some bonus images of a somewhat beautiful, snow covered MOSI taken from within the Great Western Warehouse and the rest of the Museum.
Earlier today the MOSI Blog team had the privilege of being the first members of staff to view our incredible new Christmas movie Sleigh Ride in 4D. We don’t want to give too much away but the movie tells the heroic story of how Santa’s helpers saved Christmas, of course, this is a MOSI 4D movie, so expect many more surprises waiting for you beyond the big screen.
Sleigh Ride is screened daily throughout the month of December and tickets are priced at £3.50 for Adults and £2.50 concessions. All of our 4D shows last approximately 15 minutes. More information on Sleigh Ride and our entire range of 4D movies is available here.
To complete the seasonal nature of this post, we also have a Festive Grotto open at weekends throughout December, tickets for the Grotto are priced at £5, including craft activities and a special gift and are available from the Information Desk in the Great Western Warehouse.
With so much going on throughout December, why not combine a trip to MOSI with your Christmas Shopping trip to Manchester for a festive treat for the whole family?
More from Experiment tomorrow (Weather Permitting!)
On Tuesday 7th December, our visitors will have a unique opportunity to experience our fantastic new restaurant facilities first-hand when artisan baker and judge of the BBC Two's 'Great British Bake Off' holds an inspiring masterclass of baking to raise funds for the Museum.
Tickets for this event are priced at £30 and some age restrictions apply. For more information on this event, including details of how to reserve your place, visit the MOSI website.
Tuesday has been another productive day on the Experiment installation with the AIVAF exhibit designers and installation teams from Work Haus, Cocreate and The Image Group working into the winter nights to ensure the gallery is completed on schedule.
Rumour has it that the gallery could be open to the public as early as December 10th. We must stress that this is still unconfirmed, but we will of course ensure that our loyal audience are the first to know once we do have that final confirmation.
Ever since the closure of the Great Western Warehouse in November 2009, the question on all of our visitors’ lips has been: "When will the Experiment gallery re-open?"
The good news is that despite a recent lack of Blog updates (for which we apologise profusely). The Experiment project has been coming together just nicely. Our designers, AIVAF have been working away steadily in the background with MOSI’s own Technical Services and Learning teams to create a gobsmacking array of new exhibits and modifications to breath new life into our existing collection of hands-on science interactive exhibits.
Over the past week or so, teams of staff from MOSI and AIVAF have been working tirelessly to install the exhibits in their new surroundings. The MOSI blog team have also been busy, creeping stealth-like into Experiment to bring you this sneak peak of the gallery as it takes shape. Hopefully, this will be the first of several updates from within the gallery this week so please check back throughout this week for the latest news and images from Experiment, MOSI’s fascinating and unique hands-on science gallery
This week has been something of a consolidation week following the mania and activity of the last fortnight as the building team battled against deadlines to get the first parts of the Great Western Warehouse open.
Some areas of the warehouse may be open, but there is much, much more to come. The fit out team are busy installing the kitchen and servery furniture in our luxurious new restaurant space overlooking the Museum entrance on Lower Byrom Street, giving you a wonderful rooftop view of Castlefield and MOSI’s own historic Lower Campfield Market building whilst you enjoy our tantalising menu of hot and cold meals.
On the second floor, work is nearing completion on our inspiring new learning suite. We have improved facilities and doubled the number of classrooms in the building, bringing science and industry to life for more educational and community groups than ever before.
Finally, manufacture is under way off-site on the exhibits and features of our astounding Revolution Manchester gallery. Whilst in our ever-popular Experiment gallery, designs have been finalised and exhibits are now being built to bring an exciting mixture of new and re-imagined interactive exhibits to demonstrate science to little kids and big kids alike!
MOSI’s new café, shop and conference facilities are now open for business as the first stage of the main building redevelopment has reached completion. Come and check them out to get a taste of what’s to come with the rest of the redeveloped building!
MOSI’s smart new shop has an expanded range of unusual gifts, educational games, books, models and toys. Too stressed by high street shopping? The relaxed environment of the beautifully-designed new Museum shop gives you time and space to find the right gift. From model aeroplanes and science kits, to history books, recycled glassware and quirky fridge magnets, there's something for everyone. On the way out you can drop into one of your favourite galleries and learn something about Manchester's fascinating history too!
The new café serves up freshly brewed coffee and a range of tasty cakes, hot drinks, sandwiches and snacks. Its lofty ceiling is a reminder that this was once part of a vast railway warehouse, and floor-to-ceiling windows allow the light to flood in. The funky new café design includes a desk inspired by the industrial steel girders seen throughout the Museum site. Relax in the comfy armchairs and people-watch in historic Castlefield.
We've already had our first corporate clients and first wedding in MOSI's plush new conference centre, which opened at the weekend! In the dedicated conference space delegates can use one of four new meeting rooms, seating between 14 and 40 people in a variety of layouts, including theatre, boardroom, u-shape and cabaret. There will also be a state-of-the-art function room which can be adapted to accommodate a wide variety of group sizes, from 50 to 350, in theatre, reception, banquet or cabaret style. The room can be used for dinner dances and can seat up to 200. When the new Revolution Manchester gallery is complete in December this will also be available for corporate hire (upto 200 people for dinner).
As alluded to in Friday's progress update. MOSI has elected to rename the Main Building to the Great Western Warehouse. Here is a short article from the new issue of our Revolution MOSI newsletter, briefly explaining the reasons behind the decision to change the name, and the historic importance of the Great Western Warehouse name:
The Museum looked to the past for inspiration when renaming one of its iconic buildings as part of the ongoing 'Revolution MOSI' site development.
"The reason for changing the name of our Main Building to the Great Western Warehouse is to make more of the site's heritage, of which the buildings are a key part of that", explains Marketing Manager Jill Flynn. "For some time now, visitors have not been aware of the significance of the site on which the Museum is located, and therefore, by giving the building its original name, this not only goes someway to explaining the history of the site and the buildings' initial purpose, but also gives the beautifully restored former Victorian warehouse the name it deserves."
What's in a name?
Was... Main Building Now... Great Western Warehouse Why... The warehouse was built in 1880 to provide storage for the Great Western Railway or 'God's Wonderful Railway' as it was affectionately nicknamed. Rail tracks ran into the ground floor from the adjoining viaduct, providing a transit area and loading platforms either side of the tracks allowing goods to be loaded and unloaded straight from the trains onto waiting road wagons. The wagons could enter the Warehouse through doors along the Upper Yard and on Lower Byrom Street or park outside the loading bays on the North Side.
Following yet another week of frenzied activity. Work in several areas of the building is nearing practical completion. The public can expect to have their first sight of selected areas of the newly refurbished, and newly named, Great Western Warehouse building this weekend. The Information Area, Shop, Cafe and Basement toilets are expected to be the first areas of the building to be opened to the public, possibly as early as this weekend.
The Ground Floor Shop and Café were handed back to MOSI earlier this week for cleaning and stocking, whilst on the Second Floor, carpet has been fitted and the respective fit-out teams have moved into the Conferencing and Banqueting areas to put the final touches to our inspiring new meeting facilities.
The removal of the iconic Experiment mini, captured in this excellent time-captured video by our photographer Michael England, became one of the most symbolic moments of the project so far. The removal of the mini signified the demolition and removal of the final remains of the old building.
Earlier today, in the most momentous sign of the progress being made within the building, the Mini was returned to its throne at the heart of the brand new Experiment gallery by MOSI’s own Technical Services team.
The Lifting the Mini interactive exhibit is located below an atrium cut within the second floor, enabling it to rise between floors, giving a spectacular and totally unique experience for our conference clients and educational groups on second floor, who will see the mini literally popping up from beneath them!
This is by no means the last of the incredible new experiences that we have in store for our visitors in the exciting new gallery spaces. Please keep checking back for news on how the building is progressing, and the other surprises we have up our sleeves.
The refurbishment has hit fever pitch over the last fortnight, with a team of almost 200 construction workers and specialist sub-contractors working into the night to ensure that the building will be delivered on schedule.
The team have made astonishing progress in the Ground Floor, which has been a particular hive of activity over the last week. Construction work is largely complete in the shop, café and information area. Since the last update, flooring, lighting and mains power have also been installed in all of these areas. The fit out of the shop display furniture is nearing completion with only final works, such as the installation of a false ceiling, remaining. The café area is also progressing at a rapid pace, having been handed over to our catering fit out team, who are busy installing the servery and display furniture.
The entrance to the Museum has been completely overhauled as part of this project. The Main Entrance has been relocated to make access to our outstanding galleries and facilities much easier for our visitors. New folding entrance doors have been installed and are being tested. In our brand new entrance foyer, construction work is again nearing completion, and the area is in the process of being transferred to the respective fit out teams. New flooring has been laid, lighting and electrics are being worked on and a new information desk is being installed at this very moment!
These areas of the Ground Floor will be the first areas of the new building that the public will have the opportunity to view. Excitingly, this could be much sooner than you would imagine.
Due to the allocation of most of the teams’ resources towards the ground floor, work on the other floors has been limited. On the Second Floor, the Education suite has been fully decorated with furniture has been fitted in the classrooms, whilst good progress has been made in the conference suite, which has also been fully decorated, with glazing and lighting installed. There are just some final works remaining on the flooring and final glazing of the atrium areas.
Work on the First floor has been limited. Flooring has been installed in the restaurant area, and this will shortly be undergoing a full fit out by catering contractors, who are currently hard at work installed our new kitchen.
Finally, the first area to reach practical completion has been the basement toilet area, which is now practically complete and has been handed back to MOSI by the building team for cleaning.
Progress updates will be coming thick and fast over the coming weeks, so please check back regularly. Don’t forget to add your comments. We are eager to hear from you and we want your thoughts on what you’ve seen so far, and what your hopes are for the new building.
Work has continued at a remarkable pace over the last few weeks, with the building team working long and hard to ensure that the refurbishment continues to take shape. Structural work in the educational and conferencing suites is largely complete, the building team have since progressed onto redecoration and the mechanical and electrical installation. There has even been some furniture installed!
The shop and café in particular beginning to become more recognisable to the untrained eye. Both areas have all new flooring, and the shop fitters been busy installing new display shelving and roller shutters. The team are continuing to prepare the main ground floor spaces to house our incredible new Revolution MOSI gallery and a hugely improved and much more welcoming entrance area.
On the first floor, flooring is being installed in the new Experiment gallery whilst the designers AVIAF and MOSI’s own Technical Services team are collaborating off-site on a mix of brand new exhibits and refurbished classics that will take pride of place within the gallery.
kin design agency have been appointed to develop our exciting new gallery Revolution Manchester. It's early days yet, but the team are working on a number of highly interactive exhibits, games and creative art which will captivate you, and inform you about how Manchester changed the world. London-based kin have been involved in very high profile interactive installations for the likes of London College of fashion, Nokia and Tommy Hilfiger, so expect the unexpected!
And for all those visitors who have thought that MOSI could do with a few more toilets, good news is afoot in our redevelopment. The basement of the warehouse has been opened up to public access and the huge boiler which powers the steam engines in the Power Hall has been moved... leaving room for dozens of shiny new loos.
here are the first ones going in. There will be more!
Installation work is now progressing at a break-neck speed at the MOSI redevelopment both inside and outside. The first of the two stair towers has been erected, painted, and now glazing is being installed, with the second tower not too far behind.
Remember this? As part of the building re-design, we are re-working the old entrance area, with the objective of making life much less complicated for our visitors. The ball and cone sculpture has been moved but will be back! We have removed several glazing panels from the old building structure, to create the new entrance to MOSI in the area here shown as a window to the left. That means visitors will walk straight into the atmospheric new orientation hall, rather than the coffee shop as previously.
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a mini revolution going on at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester) in Castlefield. Although the Museum's other four buildings are open as usual to visitors, in our main building the diggers and cranes are in and a major redevelopment project is underway. We’re very excited about the changes that are going on inside and we want to give you the news about its progress live, as it happens. This blog, penned by Stephen Hoyle from our Technical Services department, will give you an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse at what the team of builders, architects and designers are doing at your favourite family museum.
Please note that all our galleries apart from Xperiment remain open and we have a packed summer programme of events for all the family. Check the website for more details.
This picture shows the giant new lift cores being erected. The lifts and stairs will be inside new glass towers on the outside of the building to replace the old access ramps, which dominated the middle of the main building (see below).
For more information about the plans for the redevelopment project please visit our website
The main building redevelopment is the first phase of Revolution MOSI, the Museum’s ambitious redevelopment plan, which (subject to funding) could eventually include the redevelopment of the Air & Space Hall on Lower Byrom Street and a new Road Transport Gallery in Upper Campfield Market on Liverpool Road. The main building is expected to be completed by October 2010.
This is what MOSI’s main building will look like after the redevelopment. Inside, we've lots of surprises lined up for you. Our hugely popular Experiment gallery returns (note the 'E' has returned), admittedly having had more reincarnations than the Sugababes. The new Experiment gallery will be bigger and better than ever, most of your favourite classic exhibits will be refurbished and we'll be adding plenty of new exhibits for you to grow to love in the years to come. Our brand-new learning suite will ensure that our school groups can learn in the most stylish and comfortable environment possible. Swanky new conferencing facilities will inspire and motivate you in even the most tedious of product development meetings. We're creating a bigger, better restaurant and kitchen area for you to enjoy delicious freshly cooked meals. As an added bonus we're creating an exciting new, interactive 'Revolution Manchester' gallery that will give you a fascinating introduction to how Manchester changed the world, and will signpost you to the rest of the Museum.
Holly Smallbone, 8, had an insider view of the work at MOSI when was invited on a VIP tour of the redevelopment after she wrote in to Director Tony Hill. She is pictured here looking at plans inside the site with Tony Hill and her godmother Debbie Ledgerton
Environmental concerns are an important part of the redevelopment. Many of the building materials have been recycled, including aggregates and concrete used in the creation of the barrel ceiling (see picture below) to replace the void left when the ramps were taken out, recycled concrete and steel in the lift core, recycled bank notes to be used in signs and old yoghurt pots for worktops and interactives.
Look what happened when we moved our Mini – one of the well-loved exhibits in Xperiment gallery. This video was shot by Michael England, showing how the demolition works progressed earlier this year.
This is your museum and this is your place to discuss it. Do you have any fond memories or anecdotes from the building? Do you have any photographs of the old building? What are you hoping to see in the new building? Get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.
You can see more fantastic snaps of the building redevelopment by photographer Michael England here
