A decade ago, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas opened its doors, bringing what one architecture critic called "the boldest piece of modern architecture" to hit the city's skyline.
Now, its creator, Thom Mayne and his team at the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Morphosis, hope to have an opportunity to once again reshape what has become a landmark property with plans to convert a bland 4-acre parking lot into an outdoor destination for science enthusiasts and museumgoers.
The yet-to-be-designed oasis is intended to connect to an urban park as part of what will become a new $500 million office campus for Goldman Sachs. The nearly 1 million-square-foot property, expected to employ at least 5,000 workers, is scheduled to break ground in February, according to a state building permit. Hunt Realty Investments is the developer. Completion is scheduled for April 2026.
Workers have already demolished the low-rise apartments behind the museum to prepare for the Goldman Sachs office construction.
"We are excited by the development happening next door to us," Perot Museum Linda Silver told CoStar News. "We are really focused on not just our enclosed building space but creating outdoor exhibitions and spaces that connects to what is going on next door."
The museum, named after well-known Texas philanthropists Margot and Ross Perot, estimates it has welcomed 10 million visitors since opening a decade ago on Dec. 1, 2012.
Though the museum has already hired Morphosis to help design the future outdoor space, a timeline has yet to be outlined. The nonprofit needs to secure funds from donors through a capital campaign that hasn't begun.
"We want to make this a place to come to not only when it's cold or rainy or too hot outside, but when the weather is beautiful," Silver said, adding that early plans call for the museum to make up for lost parking spaces with an underground garage.
Silver said the museum is also working with the same landscape architect Hunt Realty Investments is using to design the Goldman Sachs campus.
Silver said the outdoor space could be used for exhibits and programs, extending the reach of a museum that recently played host to one of fashion's biggest names when Louis Vuitton unveiled its Cruise 2023 line to an invite-only group of attendees. The museum is currently exhibiting a glimpse of the science behind Pixar, the digital animation producer owned by the Walt Disney Co.
In designing the museum, Mayne and his team at Morphosis decided to reject the notion of museum architecture as a neutral background for exhibits and turned the design of the building itself into a demonstration of scientific principles at work. For example, the building's cube shape is more energy efficient than a rectangular building, and the property's irrigation and plumbing demands are met in the summer by recapturing air-conditioning condensation, according to the museum's website. The water in the building is heated by solar panels, and the museum itself was developed on a former brownfield.
The precast concrete facade of the building was designed to evoke geologic striations. One of the building's features is a 150-foot, glass-enclosed structure extending outside the building toward Woodall Rodgers Freeway, which contains a 54-foot escalator leading to the bones of a massive Tyrannosaurus rex.
"To conceive of a building that is not only architecturally iconic and recognizable as the Perot Museum, but also works with what we need to be able to operate as a museum is significant," she said, adding she's worked in other highly designed museums that don't have effective gallery or education spaces. "This museum really leads with its exhibitions and programs first. We haven't had to fix anything to make it more functional."
Silver hopes that streak will continue in the next chapter of the museum. "I think it's going to be interesting to see what the next 10 years brings us," she said.
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B U I L D I N G D A T A
Building Name: Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Building Size: 180,000 square feet
Building Location: 2201 N. Field St., Dallas
Date Completed: December 2012
Development Manager: Hillwood Development Corp.
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction
Architect: Thom Mayne, Morphosis
Consulting Architect: GFF
Landscape Architect: Talley Associates
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CoStar photographers capture images every day of distinctive buildings, each with its own story. Snapshots is an occasional feature showcasing one of them.