The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History today unveiled plans for its new building: an innovative work of architecture that blends with neighboring institutions and features a sweeping plaza and campus-like environment at the south end of the Cultural District.

Over the past year the highly acclaimed architectural firm, Legorreta+Legorreta, designed the new building, working closely with the museum’s leaders and exhibit creators. Groundbreaking on the $65 million project is scheduled for the fall of 2007. “We’re thrilled with the Legorreta plans,” said Van A. Romans, the museum’s president. “It is so exciting that our museum’s dynamic learning programs and rich collections will be enveloped by a truly remarkable building, one that will serve our community for another 50 years.”

Ricardo Legorreta described the new building as a “very happy environment, a building for kids, young people and adults.” An iconic, 60-foot ‘urban lantern’ will serve as the main entrance to the 133,000- square-foot new building. The elegant entry, marked by clean lines, will invite natural light into the building during the day and softly illuminate the surrounding area and grounds in the evening.

The new building will face the Will Rogers Memorial Center to the east and opens onto a broad plaza that will connect the museum more closely to its neighbors, both the Will Rogers Center and, in particular, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

The interior will embrace the natural world with courtyards and indoor-outdoor spaces, skylights, pergolas, and abundant natural light. “The light contributes to the beauty and the mystery of the inside, beginning with the urban lantern,“ Legorreta said. “I want people to walk, to discover, and then by the changing of the natural light during the day and all the seasons, they will keep discovering the building every time they visit. We want people to know and feel it is their building.”

“I am convinced that what we architects need to do is to try to make better cities, not just make better buildings in themselves,” Legorreta said, referring to the plaza and his firm’s respect for the architectural style and scale of neighboring buildings. The plaza represents the culmination of a long-standing master plan to anchor the south end of the Cultural District as a center for western heritage. The museum is partnering with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation to create a permanent new Cattle Raisers gallery housed within the new facility that will immerse guests in the dynamic history of the cattle and ranching industry in Texas and the Southwest.

The decision to build a new facility came after a two-year strategic planning process involving the museum’s trustees and staff along with LORD Cultural Resources of Toronto, Canada, one of the foremost museum planning firms in the world. The LORD group recommended a new facility, noting that more than five decades of service have taken a considerable toll on the building. “Over the next six months we expect some elements of the building’s design could change somewhat, but the overall concept is in place,” Romans said.

Construction will begin in the fall of 2007. During the 24-month construction period, the Omni Theater will remain open except for a few months to renovate its seating and sound system. Museum School will offer its stellar learning programs for children in a temporary village just south of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, thanks to a generous loan of portable buildings from the Fort Worth Independent School District. (Its preschool classes will be held beginning this summer in this temporary setting). A variety of hands-on exhibits of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will be hosted along with continuing operations at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame during most of the construction period.

Fort Worth philanthropists Stacie and David McDavid are heading a team of community leaders in a capital campaign to fund the $65 million project, including Dee Kelly Jr., Charlie Moncrief, Martha Williams and others. The campaign includes $60 million to construct the new museum and a $5 million cash reserve to sustain additional operating costs during the transition and the first few years in the new facility.