Perot Museum of Nature and Science Debuts Dec. 1

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas is in the final stages of construction. The rendering better shows what the landscape architectural design of Dallas-based Talley Associates will look like. The firm's principals are Coy Talley, ASLA, and Kevin Bernauer, ASLA, AICP. Talley Associates describes the landscape as "an abstract cross-section of Texas, from an East Texas-inspired forest of large native canopy trees to the plains of the Texas Panhandle."

The $185-million Perot Museum of Nature and Science designed by Thom Mayne and Morphosis Architects will open Saturday, December 1, 2012, one month ahead of schedule. The Dallas museum is named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot for their $50-million gift.

???(R)???AE'?N????e'?N,A+“The Perot Museum brings together a Pritzker Prize-winning architect, a bold and innovative landscape architect, and some of the world’s best exhibit designers,” said Nicole Small, the Eugene McDermott CEO of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

The building was conceived as a large cube floating over the landscape. There is an acre of rolling greenroof comprised of rock and native drought-resistant grasses that reflects Texas’s indigenous landscape.

The mission of the Perot Museum is to “inspire minds through nature and science.” The museum has five floors of public space with 11 permanent exhibit halls, including a children’s museum complete with outdoor play space/courtyard, and a hall designed to host traveling exhibitions. There’s an expansive glass-enclosed lobby and adjacent rooftop deck, a 3-D digital cinema with seating for 297, an auditorium, a cafe and a retail store.

The museum expects to attain certification from LEED (U.S. Green Building Council), Green Globes (Green Building Initiative) and from the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which emphasizes landscape and site design.

For more information, visit perotmuseum.org.