The age of science

The Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, which was built in an investment of PLN 350 mln, was one of the largest schemes of its kind in Europe in recent years. Since its opening day four years ago, the museum has turned into a major success, attracting a million people every year. A total of 450 exhibits have been installed over an area of almost 5,000 sqm (the useable area of the centre exceeds 17,000 sqm). Many of these can be touched and are interactive. These include an earthquake simulator and a robot that can be communicated with using facial expressions. “These days visitors are not satisfied with just being able to read or see something. They want to experience science at first hand. This is what sets science centres apart from ordinary museums,” explains Marek Pisarski of PAIT (Polish Tourism and Leisure Consulting), which specialises in the concept development, interior design and exhibit production for new centres. The entry fee to the Copernicus Centre is PLN 25 per adult and PLN 16 for a reduced ticket, excluding separate fees for the planetarium and the four laboratories (PLN 9 each). And it turns out these prices are not discouraging visitors. “The opening of the centre was a revolution that kick-started the immense popularity of similar museums. Now every region would like to have its own Copernicus-type centre,” says Marek Pisarski. A few years ago the then Polish premier Donald Tusk raised the possibility of developing such centres in each province. However, as it turns out it is the local authorities that are mostly embarking upon such initiatives.

After the Copernican revolution

Even though Copernicus is certainly the most expensive science centre in the country, a new record-holder in terms of scale is already on the way. Centrum Nauki i Techniki EC1 Łódź will cover an area of 16,000 sqm in a revitalised former electrical plant on ul. Targowa in Łódź. The interactive science centre is located in historic buildings that will provide the perfect backdrop for the presentation of electrical power-related phenomena,” claims Marek Pisarski, the originator of the centre and the author of its preliminary functional concept. The complex itself is being carried out on behalf of the city by the institution under the name of  EC1 Łódź-Miasto Kultury, and apart from a science centre with 150 exhibits it will also include a film art centre, a library, a planetarium, a 3D cinema, a gallery, a sound theatre, offices of cultural institutions, and seminar and workshop halls. The cost of the revitalisation of the entire complex comes to PLN 274 mln, PLN 82 mln of which is being provided by the ERDF. The work should be completed by the end of 2015. The date is important, because if it is not met all the additional funding from the EU might have to be paid back. Therefore the fact that the general contractor of the western section of the complex (EC1 Zachód), Porr, abandoned the building site in June this year following a conflict with the investor might be a source of concern. The tender for finishing the work off had to be annulled when it turned out that no offers had been submitted. At the second attempt, where the requirements were lowered, the only two bids submitted were found too expensive. The city is to announce a third tender. But time is running short. The construction of a science centre in Silesia that could compete in terms of scale with the Copernicus Science Centre is also planned over the next few years. In 2011 the Silesian provincial government, the city of Chorzów, the University of Silesia and the Provincial Park of Culture and Leisure signed a letter of intent to carry out such a project. At the time they believed that the authorities would be able to allocate as much as PLN 350–400 mln for the construction of the Silesian Science Centre (in Park Śląski in Chorzów), half of which would come from EU funds. Unfortunately for the project, the support from the central budget was much less than hoped for after the province decided to reduce it to PLN 100 mln. Scientists from the University of Silesia had been preparing the concept of the centre for a few years, but now it needs adjusting to its new financial limits. The province has since gone on record to say that there is no chance of a project to rival the Copernicus Science Centre in Silesia – and now it is possible that the funds available will only be enough to renovate the local planetarium. A large science centre project in Szczecin is another that could potentially be the recipient of EU money. The project, which has been on the table since 2008, was to have been called the Maritime Museum. Changes came unexpectedly with a new EU perspective for the 2014–2020 period. “The perspective that came to an end in  2013 was aimed at the construction of regular centres, i.e. simple culture, theatre or museum buildings – and indeed many of these were built. Now the EC has decided that such centres must have feature a significant innovation or science component. That is why the project, which was to have been called the Maritime Museum, has now been renamed Centrum Nauki Balticum,” explains Gabriela Wiatr, the spokesperson of the West Pomeranian Marshal’s Office. The centre that is now to be developed by the National Museum in Szczecin is expected to cost app. PLN 95 mln. “We still have further negotiation stages ahead of us for a territorial contract with the central authorities to provide the project with external financing. The regional operational programme itself will not bear such high costs,” reveals Gabriela Wiatr.

Smaller but more secure

Smaller projects in Kielce and Zielona Góra are progressing a bit more dynamically. The former is Energetyczne Centrum Nauki, which is to be built in the Kielce Technology Park. The redevelopment of the home of this institute is currently in progress as well as the development of a centre for exhibits. The tender for a project under the design and build system (PLN 3 mln) was won by a consortium of NoLabel, New Amsterdam and Fabryka Dekoracji. The small centre will include a 3D cinema and an auditorium. It will occupy app. 500 sqm on the second floor of the former Wyższa Szkoła Umiejętności college near a technological incubator owned by the Kielce Technology Park. Skanska has been commissioned to redevelop the existing building under the general contractor system and apart from the small science centre the 5,000 sqm building will include an ITC incubator, some rooms for entrepreneurs and laboratories. Skanska is also carrying out the redevelopment of the former Wenus cinema in Zielona Góra, which is to become the home of Centrum Nauki Keplera-Planetarium Wenus. The project, which is being developed by the Zielona Góra Culture Centre, is to cost PLN 26 mln, PLN 18 mln of which is being provided by the state. It will include a teaching and conference facility. One of its significant elements will be the planetarium, the dome of which has been ordered from the United States. Elżbieta Polak, the marshal of Lubuskie province, emphasises that the project is very important for the region as it is part of the Lubusz Kepler Track, which already includes four striking new school astronomy observatories.

A growing market

Public tenders for the construction of science centres are currently being dominated by large players, such as Warbud (the Copernicus Science Centre, Experyment in Gdynia), Skanska (Energetyczne Centrum Nauki in Kielce and Centrum Nauki Keplera-Planetarium Wenus) and Porr (EC1 Zachów). However, smaller companies are also working in this market, examples of which include Ebud Przemysłówka (Hewelianum in Gdańsk), Pol-Aqua (Centrum Nowoczesności Młyn Wiedzy in Toruń) and Anna-Bud (Centrum Nauki Leonardo da Vinci in Podzamcze Chęcińskie). “From the point of view of general contractors, a tender for the construction of science centres is like any other tender. Our Centrum Nauki Leonardo da Vinci project was interesting as it featured some rather complicated elements, such as a green roof with plants and paths,” says Tomasz Barszcz, an engineer and project manager at Anna-Bud. Even though for a local construction company a public tender is a chance to make some money, these are not high-margin developments. “This is a characteristic of public tenders in  Poland, that the price is the main criterion. From the point of view of a contractor the key issue is to avoid an underestimation of the offer. It is easy to make this mistake when striving to win a contract,” adds Tomasz Barszcz. Furthermore, a crop of centres in one region is difficult to imagine, so there are no wider prospects in this field for local contractors. Another important issue is the equipment. At the beginning this was an area reserved almost exclusively for European moguls. Exhibits for the Copernicus Science Centre were supplied by companies from Germany and the Netherlands, including Hüttinger, Archimedes and Bruns. “Some Western European companies have decades of experience in this industry. Their Polish equivalents have only been in the business for a few years,” admits Piotr Giemborek, an architect with Fabryka Dekoracji, which can boast the construction of exhibitions for a few science centres in  Poland. Spending a dozen or so million złoty under the ‘design and build’s system was initially quite a challenge for such small companies. “Now it is clear to see that as far as interactive and multi- media exhibitions are concerned, we are able to create certain things much cheaper than the western competition,” declares Marek Pisarski. The greatest difference results from the lower transport and service costs, because foreign firms have to take these on. Furthermore, Polish companies want to make their presence known, so they often focus on prototype solutions, they want to be more flexible in contacts with the ordering party, and they know the local situation better. How high are the construction costs of an exhibition? This of course depends on the expectations of the ordering party. It needs to be remembered that exhibits in a science centre must not only be interesting but also possess significant mechanical resistance, since visitors are a constant test of their durability. “I estimate that a safe price, including service, is app. PLN 100,000 per stand if it is supposed to be unique. This is the amount to be paid in Energetyczne Centrum Nauki in Kielce, which includes 29 exhibits,” reveals Piotr Giemborek. Which direction is the market now heading in? According to Marek Pisarski, a clear trend for the next few years will be to make such centres much more attractive for younger children, such as the 3 to 10 age group. “The two newly-opened galleries in Parc de la Villette in Paris could serve as an example of this trend. It is quite a challenge to create something interesting and at the same time educational for young children. However, if you succeed in doing this, science centres will attract entire families and all the visitors will find something for themselves,” says Marek Pisarski. Changes could also take place in terms of the overall mode of presentation. “Centres should not be a collection of single devices, they should not be designed in such a way that one exhibit is not related to another, which is characteristic of the Copernicus Science Centre and also for many other institutions across the world. We would like all these centres to provide a narrative on a certain subject and take us into another world. This requires a specific setting and scenery and creating an atmosphere that allows the exhibits to be interpreted in a completely different way,” explains Piotr Giemborek. ν

A short history of science centres

The world’s first science centre was built half a century ago with the help of American physicist Frank Oppenheimer. In 1969 he opened the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Exhibits could be touched and experiments carried out by visitors. The Polish adventure with science centres started in 2002 with an interactive exhibition in the National Museum in Szczecin, which was opened with the help of the dean of the faculty of mathematics and physics at the University of Szczecin, Prof. Jerzy Stelmach. As time has passed, more and more exhibitions of this kind have been held, some of which were often itinerant, while some now have permanent locations. The most significant examples include the Experymentarium, which was opened in Łódź Manufaktura in 2007, Experyment in Gdynia, which was opened in the same year, and the Hewelianum in Gdańsk, opened in 2008. 2010 saw the opening of the most significant project of this type – the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw. Subsequent successes have included the opening of the Humanitarium in Wrocław (2011), the Centrum Nowoczesności Młyn Wiedzy in Toruń (2013), the new extended section of the Centrum Nauki Eksperyment in Gdynia (2013), the Centrum Nauki Leonardo Da Vinci in Podzamcze Chęcińskie (2014), and the PGE Giganty Mocy exhibition in Bełchatów (2014). Educational parks have some common features and are also becoming increasingly popular in Poland. Some are based along similar lines, offering interactive exhibits which, however, are installed outdoors