SCIENCE CENTER: SPECIAL REPORT
Four finalists in the international competition to design the Connecticut Center for Science are trying to create an architectural tour de force that complements Hartford's skyline and retains its own identity.
September 24, 2004 Panel Favors Pelli For Science Center Design - Hartford Courant
A key selection committee was leaning strongly Thursday toward recommending New Haven-based Cesar Pelli, sources said, to design Hartford's next landmark: the science center at Adriaen's Landing.
September 23, 2004 First Impressions - Hartford Courant
The Courant asked local architects, scientists and other experts for reactions to the science center designs unveiled Monday in Hartford.
September 21, 2004 A Place To Learn Science -
Hartford CourantHartford desperately wants a bold architectural statement from
its new science center, and on Monday it got four.
September 21, 2004 City: Learn From Science Center - Hartford Courant
Connecticut has been ill served in the past by the way architects and developers were selected for public buildings. For years, political connections mattered more than vision and professional skill.
September 19, 2004 Contest Has Its Own Design - Hartford Courant
Downtown science center planners are pinning hopes for a world-class building on a design competition popularized in Europe but slow to gain footing in this country.
September 12, 2004 Center Of Attention - Hartford Courant
The folks determining the shape of the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration are in an enviable position. Out of a field of 43 designers who submitted credentials earlier this year to be considered for the job, the center's board of directors whittled the list to eight, and then cut it by half. I say "enviable" because all four firms now preparing design proposals are world-class, and that means that the winner - no matter whose it is - should result in a top-notch building for downtown Hartford.
September 19, 2004 Let Voters Decide On Science Center - Hartford Courant
In 1952 Ralph Ellison published his classic American novel, "Invisible Man." If he were alive today he might update it to "Invisible City." Hartford, that "Rising Star," is paradoxically the invisible city par excellence. While every citizen in West Hartford gets repeated chances to voice his or her opinion on that town's major development, Blue Black Square, and even has the opportunity to vote it up or down in a referendum, the residents of Hartford, including Mayor Eddie Perez (though he fights for a role), remain shut out from major decisions reshaping their environment. The residents of Hartford are invisible, made so by the unelected, but actual, government of the city, the Capital City Economic Development Authority.
September 19, 2004 Picking A Winner - Hartford Courant
Monday morning at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, four teams will present, to the public, design proposals for the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration. Given the architects' previous performances, quite diverse possibilities will be brought enticingly into view.
September 12, 2004 How To Make Science Attractive Again - Hartford Courant
Many recent reports have documented American students' declining interest and abilities in the sciences. Much less has been written about what we should do about it, and even less action has been taken to reverse this trend.
Reprinted with permission of the Hartford Courant.
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