Once, there were three: the Dallas Museum of Natural History, Science Place, and the Dallas Children’s Museum. In 2006 the three became one—and then in 2012, with some cash from the children of Ross Perot, the museum moved to a brand-new building. The new Perot Museum of Nature and Science is an architectural marvel on the outside and a fun, educational experience for the whole family within.
The building is a single cube, roughly 14 storeys high, seemingly suspended in air over a large plinth beneath. This plinth houses the museum’s lower levels, and is particularly notable for its acre-wide landscaped roof, covered with indigenous grasses and rocks, forming a mini elevated ecosystem. The building’s shape combines the geometric with the organic, simultaneously cubic and freeform, with walls giving way to unexpected gaps filled with huge panes of glass—the huge escalator in its 150-foot glass case is beautiful piece of engineering for adult eyes and plenty of fun for young riders.
The 11 permanent exhibits span the entire gamut of scientific inquiry, and though designed for all ages, are especially targeted toward kids—the displays throughout the museum are on a second-grade reading level. The most hands-on part of the museum is on the lower level. Here you’ll find the Moody Family Children’s Museum, where youngsters can play Godzilla as they climb over a miniature Dallas skyline, look at the animals in the terrarium, and learn about healthy foods. The sports exhibit on the same level allows kids to explore the aerodynamics of the human body and see what various sports injuries look like under x-ray. The exciting Sports Run simulator allows you to race in real time against video projections of famous athletes, a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex and a cheetah.
On the next floor you can interact with dioramas of various Texas natural environments—exhibits complete with realistic scents and sounds. The Being Human exhibit is even more hands-on, letting you study your own DNA, try out prosthetic limbs, use motion capture technology to see how closely you can imitate the physical movements of hip-hop dancers and yoga instructors, and employ brainwave sensors to throw a ping-pong ball with your mind!
There’s the Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation exhibit as well, beginning a series of sponsored galleries as you move up higher into the museum. Learn about earthquakes and tornadoes at the Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth exhibit, or witness the massive specimens at Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals. Discover how natural gas fracking works with Tom Hunt Energy, or take in the prehistoric soundscape while looking at the replica dinosaur skeletons in T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now. The museum’s highest floors feature video exhibits, with an HD recreation of the Big Bang and a build-your-own-bird exhibit that concludes with a 3D test flight.
The museum can be found at 2201 North Field Street, Dallas, TX 75201.
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