Confluence | Detail

Children’s Museum of South Dakota

Client

Children’s Museum of South Dakota

Size

90,000 square feet

;

Children’s Museum of South Dakota

Brookings, South Dakota

This new development transformed the existing 1930’s Brookings Central Elementary School and adjacent site into a premier destination for children and the community.

Confluence was part of a multi-disciplinary design team tasked with developing South Dakota’s first children’s museum. The project included more than 30,000 square feet of interactive, hands-on interior exhibits and over 60,000 square feet of additional exterior exhibit space. The City hoped to create a fun and interactive place for children to embrace their creativity and curiosity, and also providing a regional marketing attraction for the community.

“Nature Play” is the unifying theme of the outdoor exhibit space, incorporating an interactive stream and fountain, dig pits, a mud pie kitchen, stacking and climbing elements, a maze, and a large equipment display area. It also contains the only full-size, permanent animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex in the United States.

All site design was planned with sustainability in mind, incorporating large areas of native plantings, pervious aggregate pathways, and a landscape that has low dependence on supplemental water.

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