Skyscraper Museum facts for kids
The Skyscraper Museum is a special place in New York City where you can learn all about tall buildings, also known as skyscrapers! It's located in the Battery Park City area of Manhattan. The museum opened in 1996 and teaches visitors how skyscrapers are designed, built, and used. It also celebrates the amazing skyline of New York City and the people who helped create it.
Before 2004, the museum moved around, showing its exhibits in different temporary spots in Lower Manhattan. The Skyscraper Museum was started by Carol Willis, who is an expert in architectural history. The museum has two main areas for exhibits, a shop, and an office space above the shop. You can get to the museum using a ramp from the basement.
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A New Home for the Museum
The museum's first location was very close to the World Trade Center. After a major event in September 2001, the museum had to close for a while because its space was needed as an emergency center.
In March 2004, the museum reopened in its new permanent home at 39 Battery Place. This new spot is also in Battery Park City, at the very southern tip of Manhattan. It was the first museum to open in Lower Manhattan after the events of September 2001.
The museum's new home is about 539 square meters (5,800 square feet) on the ground floor of a building. The space was given to the museum by the building's developer. The design for the new museum was created by Roger Duffy from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who worked for free. He wanted to make the 3-meter (10-foot) tall indoor space feel even taller. He did this by using shiny stainless steel on the floors and ceilings, which makes it look like the space goes on forever!
Cool Exhibits to Explore
The Skyscraper Museum often has exciting exhibits about famous tall buildings.
World Trade Center Exhibit
On September 6, 2006, the museum opened an exhibit about the building of the original World Trade Center towers and their history. This exhibit even includes the original design model of the World Trade Center.
Shanghai's Tall Buildings
On June 24, 2009, the museum launched an exhibit called "China Prophecy: Shanghai." This show looked at how Shanghai in China became a city full of skyscrapers. It featured models of famous buildings like Jin Mao, Tomorrow Square, Shanghai World Financial Center, and the super-tall Shanghai Tower. The exhibit also included computer animations, films, drawings, and photos showing how Shanghai changed from a city of low buildings to a city of towers.
Supertall! Buildings
In 2011, the Skyscraper Museum opened a new exhibit called "Supertall!" This exhibit was all about the tallest buildings in the world – those that stand at least 381 meters (1,250 feet) tall, which is the height of the Empire State Building. The exhibit showed buildings built since 2001 and those planned to be finished by 2016. It highlighted how popular skyscrapers became in many countries, even though some people thought that after the events of September 2001, no one would want to build or work in tall buildings anymore.
Besides the exhibits inside the museum, the Skyscraper Museum also supports other shows and programs in different parts of New York City. They also have a special online gallery on their website, which is like a 3-D archive of Manhattan's skyscrapers.
More to See
See also
In Spanish: Skyscraper Museum para niños
