Indianapolis Museum of Science and Industry

This book is the result of nine months work on the design of a museum of science and industry for Indianapolis. It progresses from choosing a site, formulating a program, and site analysis,to building design. The site was recommended by the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, and the program was developed through visiting and studying other similar museums and talking with a museum executive.A museum of this type is intended to give the public a better understanding of the applications of science, through seeing and participating in exhibits designed for this purpose.The museum building is approx. 220,000 sqft., plus a 170,000 sqft. parking structure for 400 cars. The site is one square block (160,000 sqft.) on the northern fringe of the central business district on Meridian Street ,which is a major artery into the downtown area. The area is very formal with a war memorial mall, and several neo-classical white limestone buildings. The design responds to this by using a simple, formal exterior that relates to these site conditions, and then a more complex high technology type of feeling on the interior, that relates to the ideas that the building represents.College of Architecture and PlanningThesis (B. Arch.