Durango community members are imagining a new and more accessible Powerhouse with locally relevant science exhibits and improved community gathering spaces.
At an input session last month, led by Process Curiosity – a consulting firm specializing in community-focused design – community members gathered around tables equipped with Post-it notes as Jennifer Martin, a consultant for the firm, posed questions about what the community lacked and how the Powerhouse could fill those gaps.
The Powerhouse, the children’s science museum at 1333 Camino del Rio in Durango, is looking to make a multimillion dollar investment in the museum informed by community priorities. Input sessions were held Jan. 21 to take census of people’s desires for the space.
One of the gaps identified by meeting attendees was the lack of exhibits dedicated to locally relevant science.
There is a lot of science specific to Durango, said Patrick Fredricks, a parent of three who has been taking his kids to the Powerhouse for years and hopes they remain excited to visit the museum.
He said he would love to see exhibits revolving around local businesses such as the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Agile Space Industries and Honeyville.
Others spoke about the vast amount of science found in the rivers that flow through the area’s natural landscapes.
Gretchen Walker, a consultant with Process Curiosity, said relevancy is a critical part of learning.
“It’s easier to expand thinking if it is grounded in the familiar,” she said.
It’s a large project that is going to take a considerable amount of time, said Jeff Susor, Powerhouse executive director.
A team of staff members will meet biweekly with the consulting firm to design new exhibits and work out a plan for updating the current space, said Susor, who predicts it will take about a year to fully flesh out.
He said that while plans are quite fuzzy, developing the outside garden space into an engaging extension of the museum space is a huge priority.
“We have such an outdoor-oriented community that building out a natural play scape in that back garden feels like a no-brainer idea,” he said.
In addition to updated exhibits, both the economic accessibility and physical accessibility were highlighted as key priorities by participants, as well as staff members.
Ensuring the Powerhouse has the necessary resources to make it a welcoming community for families with young kids, particularly when it comes to cost, was one of Susor’s main takeaways from the community input.
The Powerhouse was recently approved to provide licensed child care in the Carlton Family Science Education Center and has received grants that will make it an affordable option for working-class families.
While the licensed child care center is a step forward in meeting community needs, the center can enroll only 40 children, leaving hundreds of families without access. The Powerhouse is working toward creating an affordable, family-friendly space for them as well, Susor said.
The Powerhouse is also interested in making the building location easier to access, a sentiment reaffirmed at the input sessions, he said.
A desire to live in an eco-friendly community was widely agreed upon by attendees.
“The best way to get to the Powerhouse is by bike, which I love,” a participant said, while others recognized that although directly adjacent the river trail, the museum can be difficult to access.
“You have to be pretty intentional to figure out how to get across Camino, whether on car, bike or foot,” Susor said. “… This still is a pretty cut-off corner of the community. Parking access, vehicle access and pedestrian access really are challenges to the site.”
A proposed underpass on Camino del Rio would increase accessibility for those on bike and foot. The underpass has been discussed for years and was part of the original vision for the science center, Susor said. The center continues to advocate for an underpass, he said, adding, “You shouldn’t build the underpass for the Powerhouse; you should build it if the city sees the value in the connection.”
Sydnie Golden, Powerhouse deputy director, said the center wants to reaffirm its identity as a “community hub” during the improvement process.
Susor said the need for more community spaces was heard throughout the input sessions, and he believes the Powerhouse can help fill that gap.
The museum opened to the public in 2011, and now that it has built trust in the community, the science center is hoping to undergo another financing campaign to fund its expansion, Golden said.
It will take about a year to finalize plans and tabulate costs, after which the center will set a fundraising goal and begin searching for local donors, Susor said.
He hopes the community will be willing to provide more feedback throughout the entirety of the process.
“I can’t think of a more fun way to spend a year than to invite people to dream with us about what’s next for the Powerhouse,” he said.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
