We The Curious facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids We The Curious
We The Curious, showing Explore to the right, and the Planetarium, within the large stainless-steel sphere and in the foreground a Space Signpost
Former names	at@bristol
General information
Type	Science Centre
Location	Canon's Wharf, Bristol, England
Coordinates	51°27′03″N 2°35′55″W / 51.45085°N 2.59861°W / 51.45085; -2.59861
Opened	2000

We The Curious (once called At-Bristol) is a fun science and arts centre in Bristol, England. It's also a charity that helps people learn.

This amazing place has over 200 hands-on exhibits. It's also home to the UK’s first 3D Planetarium! Every year, more than 300,000 people visit We The Curious.

Their main goal as a charity is to "connect and empower people through sharing creative experiences which celebrate unknowns in science". This means they want to help everyone feel excited about learning new things, especially in science.

They welcome thousands of visitors, including students, young people, and community groups. They also work with local schools to offer activities and special chances for people who might not think science is for them.

The centre was closed for more than two years because of a fire and water damage in 2022. But it happily reopened its doors on July 2, 2024!

History
What You Can Explore Now
Former Exhibits
Helping the Community
Events and Venue Hire
Being Eco-Friendly
Images for kids
See also

History

How We The Curious Started

We The Curious first opened in 2000. It took over from an older science museum called the Exploratory. The new centre was built in a different part of Bristol, as part of a big project to improve the Floating Harbour area.

The project got a lot of money, including £44.3 million from the National Lottery. When it first opened, the centre had three main parts:

Explore: This was a hands-on science centre with exhibits about mechanics, sound, light, computer science, space, and the human brain.
Wildwalk: This part focused on nature and living things. It had live animals, plants, and even an artificial rainforest.
IMAX Theatre: A special cinema that showed films on a huge screen.

The centre is located on what used to be Canon's Wharf. The Explore section is in an old railway goods shed from 1906. This building was one of the first to use reinforced concrete! Both the goods shed and the building that housed Wildwalk and the IMAX cinema are Grade II listed buildings, which means they are important historical buildings.

Wildwalk and IMAX Close

Wildwalk and the IMAX Theatre closed in 2007. The science centres that opened around 2000 were meant to pay for themselves. However, this was hard for some of them, including Wildwalk.

By 2005-2006, much of the money that helped run all three attractions had run out. The team had to choose: close the whole centre, or close Wildwalk and IMAX. Since Explore was more popular and Wildwalk and the IMAX were more expensive to run, they decided to focus all their money on Explore.

So, Wildwalk and the IMAX theatre closed on March 31, 2007. The buildings were later taken over by Blue Reef Aquarium, which opened in October 2009.

Becoming We The Curious

In June 2010, the Explore part of the centre changed its name to At-Bristol.

Then, in September 2017, At-Bristol changed its name again to We The Curious. This new name came from talking to visitors and staff. They wanted the centre to be more challenging and to include art as well as science. The new name and mission are all about encouraging curiosity and exploring unknowns.

The 2022 Fire

On April 9, 2022, an electrical fire started on the roof of the building. Birds had damaged a solar panel, which caused the fire.

The centre was quickly emptied, and part of the nearby road was closed. The fire was put out within an hour, but the water used to fight it caused a lot of damage to the upper floors. After more than two years of repairs, We The Curious reopened its doors on July 2, 2024.

What You Can Explore Now

We The Curious has many exciting areas to explore. Some exhibits are always there, while others change over time. The ground floor was updated with brand new exhibits in 2020.

The Planetarium: This is the UK's first 3D planetarium! You can watch amazing shows about stars and space, led by a presenter.
The Tinkering Space: Opened in July 2016, this is a place to design, create, and invent. It has a giant ball run, robots like Baxter (robot) and Nao (robot), 3D printers, and an air table.
Food: Learn about the science of food in a kitchen and living greenhouse. You can even try making your own creations!
Live Lab: This is a changing lab space where visitors can see real science happening. You might see practical lab skills, research, or even dissections.
All About Us: This area, which opened in 2011, has 50 interactive exhibits. You can discover how amazing the human body is.
Real Brain: As part of the All About Us exhibition, We The Curious has an exhibit that shows a real human brain. This helps visitors understand medical science research.
Animate It!: This exhibition was created with Aardman Animations, the makers of Wallace & Gromit. You can make your own animated films, see a film set, or make Morph spin!
Our World: Explore the world around us through investigations. This includes exhibits like Icy Bodies, Giant Bubbles, and the Turbulent Orb.
Your Amazing Brain: This section focuses on the human brain, especially optical illusions and memory.
Studio TV: This area deals with sound, light, force, and magnets. It also has a mock television studio where you can pretend to be a TV star!
Space Gallery: This area has exhibits about space travel and discoveries. It also leads to the 3D Planetarium, which has many shows each day.

We The Curious even has its own workshop where they build many of the interactive exhibits you see!

The building itself is an old railway goods shed that was updated. It now has a large glass entrance and a cool stainless-steel sphere that holds the planetarium.

The building also has a special eutectic tank. This is a tall clear tube filled with thousands of balls that help keep the building cool when it's hot and warm when it's cool. It's a clever way to save energy!

Former Exhibits

Wildwalk: This was a nature-focused Science centre with two artificial rainforests, aquariums, and live animals. It housed over 150 different types of animals, including butterflies, crabs, chameleons, frogs, piranhas, seahorses, and snakes. After Wildwalk closed, all the animals and plants found new homes in other zoos and nature centres.
IMAX: The IMAX theatre was in the same building as Wildwalk. It was the first of the three attractions to open in 2000. Over 1.1 million people visited the theatre, and it showed 70 different films.

Helping the Community

As an educational charity, We The Curious raises money to help achieve its goal of creating a "culture of curiosity." This means they work on special projects to include everyone, reach out to groups who can't visit the centre, and bring groups who might not usually get to experience science.

They work with community groups, schools, and hospitals. Many volunteers help make this work possible.

Events and Venue Hire

We The Curious has rooms and roof terraces that can be rented for private events. These spaces have been used by TV channels like Sky News and the BBC, as well as for conferences, meetings, and even weddings! You can also rent out the exhibition floor, Planetarium, Millennium Square, and Anchor Square.

Being Eco-Friendly

From the very beginning, being sustainable has been very important to We The Curious. The building itself is designed to use less energy. It has a special tank that helps heat and cool the building using only extra electricity from the night.

In 2010, when it was called At-Bristol, the centre joined the 10:10 project to reduce its carbon footprint. A year later, they announced they had cut their carbon emissions by 12%!

We The Curious continues to work hard to be eco-friendly. In 2012, they installed solar panels on the roof to make electricity from the sun. Now, one of their main goals is to "Strive for Sustainable futures." They are always looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment and teach the public about important environmental issues, like using sustainable palm oil and reducing air pollution.

Images for kids

Wildwalk-At-Bristol and the IMAX Theatre from the outside. The large translucent canopy was the roof of the botanical house.
Glass wall of the building.
The first part of the botanical house in Wildwalk-At-Bristol; Plants on Land.
Insects; one of the exhibits in Wildwalk-At-Bristol.