Master Plan of the Galleries
By understanding the transformation of Puerto Rico through its natural history, Puerto Ricans will see the island’s history as a point of pride. This project will benefit Puerto Ricans and visitors through education and collaboration, promoting an understanding of the island’s origins long before it was inhabited. The museum will add to Puerto Ricans’ well-being, strengthen the economy, create a positive meeting place, and promote collaboration between universities and institutions.
Museum of Natural History and Conservation Of Puerto Rico
Draft Master Plan: June 15, 2023
ALDRICHPEARS ASSOCIATES
Our Master Plan In Detail
4.1 Museum Vision
The Museum of Natural History and Conservation of Puerto Rico will provide the following elements to its visitors:
Gateway experience to Puerto Rico’s natural history
Interpretive experiences engaging visitors in the plant, animal, and geologic changes that have shaped the island
The story of the interwoven relationship between plants and animals, and the geologic history of the island
Launching pad for further exploration of Aguadilla and Puerto Rico
School and group programming
Community gathering space for education and entertainment
4.2 Interpretive Plan
The Museum of Natural History and Conservation of Puerto Rico will provide the following elements to its visitors:
The Master Plan establishes a framework for future interpretive experiences at the Museum of Natural History and Conservation of Puerto Rico. An interpretive plan is a core foundation piece for any new museum or exhibition initiative. It lays out the interpretive goals, strategies, thematic framework, and conceptual approaches to be used in developing future visitor experiences, gallery plans, and technical media selection. This will also help guide future content development and control of the storyline and narrative so that it is manageable in the available space and within an allocated budget.
PERGOLA ENTRANCE
Even before entering the MHNC, visitors see signage and graphics that announce the museum and its exciting experiences. This includes the Pergola, which offers them a welcoming entry passageway from the sidewalk. As they enter the Pergola, they encounter a large sculpture that highlights Puerto Rico’s natural history, letting visitors know that they’re in the right place. The artwork features prehistoric species, which are made from island materials and dramatically lit. The partial shade from the pergola helps their eyes adjust gradually, and they see signage that leads them to either the Lobby of the main museum or an adjacent historic gallery in the Farmacia
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» Welcome to the MHNC
» Enter to find out more about Puerto Rico’s natural history
» Enter to find out more about Aguadilla’s social history
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» Exterior and Pergola signage »
Feature sculpture
» Quote from scientist
Master Plan View: Lobby & Atrium
Visitors entering the museum are greeted by staff at the reception counter. They are immediately in awe of the hanging full-scale “Sirenio” skeleton overhead, which is accompanied by a modern manatee. Both are contextualized with large video-projection backdrops showing the unique species in the oceans around Puerto Rico, which have changed as the island has emerged from the sea.
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Visitors are excited to explore the rest of the museum and buy a ticket which allows them to access the main galleries as well as the History gallery in the Famacia. Orientation to the museum is provided in the Lobby, along with notices for upcoming programs hosted by the museum. Within the Lobby space, there is also an attractive and well-stocked gift shop and tourism information about local Aguadilla sights. Seating and charging for devices are also provided. From the Lobby, visitors may choose to visit the galleries on the lower or upper level, via stairs or an elevator immediately adjacent to the Lobby.
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» Welcome to the MHNC
» Come on in and explore
» There is lots to see and do
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» Staffed desk
» Gift shop with merchandise
» El “Sirenio” suspended skeleton
» Manatee suspended skeleton
» Video projections
» Seating and charging stations
» Tourism display
Master Plan Preview: Isla Viva Gallery
This gallery presents geologic phenomena that created Puerto Rico and its unique land features,
supporting early Puerto Rican life and its unique biomes today, displaying the life that visitors can protect.
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Visitors are immediately drawn to the gallery’s introductory video that quickly gives them an overview of how Puerto Rico became an island. The video animates key concepts of land formation, giving visitors context for the island as it existed in prehistoric times, and how it emerged from the sea to become the island we know today. Large format graphics complement this introductory messaging and help immerse visitors in the story.
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» Puerto Rico emerged from the sea » The island landscape we see today was once very different Key features of this area include: » Video display » Graphics
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Visitors enter into an immersive passageway that allows them to move through several main eras of Puerto Rico’s evolution as an island in the Atlantic, and understand how the Puerto Rican land mass went from a deep-sea home for marine life to an island that emerged from the sea only to experience shifting land shapes and support different life. As they progress through a series of eras, they are surrounded by stories and immersive settings which present what each era might have looked like, starting with the shallow undersea world. Eras include the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
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Visitors are excited to explore life across 250 million years of geologic time in this part of the Caribbean. In the first section, the Mesozoic, they encounter rudist clams, stingray, sharks, pycnodont fishes, and mosasaurs. Subsequently, they encounter the shallow waters of the Cenozoic ere where they see a sea cow, eagle rays, nurse sharks, triggerfishes, and portunid crabs. Finally, visitors move through the transition between water and land during the Cenozoic era where they encounter side-necked turtles, a longsnouted crocodile, small ground sloths, rodents, coquí frogs, and plants. This leads them up to the present-day Island. Each era is presented using large format graphics, illustrated environments, and backdrops, video projections and animations, and lighting that bring the spaces to life. Featured specimens and touchable replicas are presented within each era, along with interactives such as viewers that allow visitors to engage with the story at a microscopic level. Visitors see a video display of a pre-historic shark behind specimens and replicas of other sea creatures and plants from one era, and look up to see other species suspended from the ceiling above them, including gharials.
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Life evolved as Puerto Rico became an island Puerto Rico across the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras Scientists are finding fossils today where oceans once existed Several species managed to evolve and are recognizable today
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Fossils Touchable replicas Shallow dioramas Immersive video Lighting Graphics
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As visitors emerge from their prehistoric journey, they encounter a large wall map of the island with a sliding touchscreen mounted over it on a track. Visitors are invited to move the screen across the island to reveal the diverse flora and fauna found within Puerto Rico’s unique ecosystems today. The touchscreen presents information about selected species that represent a cross-section of the island’s ecological diversity, including species and plants unique to Puerto Rico and those that are at risk of extinction or extirpation.
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» Puerto Rico is biodiverse
» Puerto Rico’s land is diverse
» The species of Puerto Rico evolved to suit the island as it evolved
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» Large format island map » Sliding interactive touchscreen » Graphics
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Visitors see a large format timeline that illustrates the arc of time before and during the island’s existence, which has been relatively short and dramatic thus far. Visitors trace the timeline of the formation of the planet and continents surrounding Puerto Rico, the emergence of the island and its associated geological eras, and the more recent historically significant ecological events, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Overlaid within this is an overview of human history on the island, including pre-contact life, colonization, and settlement by Europeans. Audio stations located along the wall provide descriptions in both languages of more complex concepts and changes along the timeline. The timeline is also a great resource for gathering students to talk about the timescale of Puerto Rican life.
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» Puerto Rico’s evolving life is matched by its geological change
» Puerto Rican human history is complex but only a small moment in time
» Puerto Rico is prone to extreme geological and weather events
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» Graphic timeline mural
» Audio stations
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Visitors are introduced to this area where they can explore contemporary climate change, landslides, and hurricanes via graphics, interactives, and video. Here, they can sit to watch a video that quickly covers climate change and how it affects hurricane intensity, landslides, and people in Puerto Rico. Climate change is presented as an underlying factor in major storm events, which have increased in recent years and to which Puerto Rico is especially susceptible to given its location in the Caribbean. A mini-theatre presents narrated video footage of recent island storms, including the 2017 Hurricane Mara. Visitors see footage of the storm and its aftermath, and where vulnerabilities exist for future events. Photos of storm damage and erosion, and maps explaining sea level rise are visible. Visitors are offered advice on preparing for storms, including seeing mock-ups of home safety and survival kits and supplies they might need following similar future events. In another area of the exhibit, an interactive globe allows visitors to call up current data from NOAH and NASA depicting storm / hurricane pathways around the world. This 360° interactive also lets them see predicted sea level changes and heat maps that can be selected by visitors or adapted for use by staff during school programs.
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» Climate change is disproportionately affecting the island
» Climate change and storm patterns are traced globally but impact locally
» You can prepare for the worst
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» Video
Master Plan View: Tierra Dinámica Gallery
Key features
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Visitors entering from the staircase are immediately “wowed” by a large cutaway model of our planet. They see animated areas under the earth’s crust and explanations of how volcanoes are formed and how they affect us here at the surface. An inset video with volcanic explosions and lava flows is visible. In parallel to the lower gallery, visitors here are introduced to the phenomenon which has shaped our planet in the past and continues to affect it today as an ongoing process of tectonic force and movement.
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» Earth is dynamic
» Earth has powerful geological forces
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Large cutaway planet earth model
» Inset video
» Graphics
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Visitors move into an enclosed area within the gallery and see a mesmerizing display of minerals, rocks, and crystals which have been formed by earth’s volcanic and tectonic activity. Through the variety of specimens displayed here, visitors discover the basics behind mineral formation, the rock cycle, and the three types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Beautifully lit, the specimens also include larger examples which may be displayed in jewel cases for visitors to look at closely. Magnifiers are also installed where close-up views of specimens are desirable. Minerals with light-specific features can be highlighted using special lighting within the displays, some controllable by visitors.
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» Minerals are the fundamental building blocks of all rocks
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» Rock and mineral specimens
» Magnifiers and light features
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Tectonic forces which shaped Puerto Rico in the past and continue to be at work beneath our feet are presented here. Visitors are immediately drawn to a large format video presentation with a “spin-browser” video function. Here, they can control the speed of movement of continental plates, beginning with Pangea and the subsequent evolution and separation of the continents as we know them today. Nearby, visitors are delighted to explore how plate tectonics work, using a mechanical, hands-on model which allows them to shift plates and see how divergence and convergence work, and how this has formed and continues to affect the landscapes we inhabit.
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» Plate tectonics are a powerful, shaping force for land on earth
» Puerto Rico has complex plate margin geology
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» Spin browser video interactive
» Mechanical plate movement interactive
» Graphics
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Building on their knowledge of basic tectonics and plate movement, visitors encounter the forces which have shaped Puerto Rico specifically, as part of an island chain adjacent to the Puerto Rico Trench in the Atlantic, all created through dramatic and powerful geological forces. Visitors are seated and watch a dynamic animation depicting the tectonic events that brought the Caribbean islands above the sea, forming the Antilles. An audio narration is provided in both languages. Adjacent to this area are large-format graphics and a small tactile bathymetric model of the Puerto Rico Trench, along which Puerto Rico is nestled. Visitors are able to feel the depth of the trench and canyons, and understand the tremendous depths which surround the island today.
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» There have been dynamic geologic processes in the Caribbean
» The Puerto Rico Trench is deep
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» Narrated video animation » Tactile bathymetric model » Graphics
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Visitors are excited to explore a large central topographic model of the island and its rugged landscape. Graphics and labeling identify key cities and landmarks. As they look at the map, they realize it is moving, turning over longitudinally! As it completes its turn, they see another map of the island, this time with the landscape removed to reveal the geological areas that reside below our feet. Here they see massive geological rock formations and provinces, and fault lines that crisscross the island and were formed by the movement of plates. They also see why the island is prone to earthquakes. Again, visitors see the model begin to rotate, and the topographic map side appears again to restart the cycle.
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» Puerto Rico’s land is dynamic
» There’s a deep story beneath our feet
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» Rotating topographic model
» Geologic map » Graphics
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Visitors are introduced to this contemporary and highly relevant story via graphics and several symbolic objects which were damaged during the recent 2020 earthquake. As they enter the main exhibit space, visitors encounter an array of screens with live data of regional seismic monitoring and events, as they might find at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network’s monitoring station at UPR Mayagüez. This presents a selection of sample footage and information, including seismographic patterns from key events. Sample monitoring devices and sensors are also presented for visitors to explore. Younger visitors are drawn to two interactive stations within the space, including a shake table and jumper experience. At the table, visitors can try to build a house or tower with blocks that can withstand an earthquake, then test it using the shaker surface, and dialing up the force until the blocks fall. At the jumper, they leap into the air and land to create a mini “seismic” event that is registered and presented. Visitors can also see the magnitude of the 1918 and 2020 earthquakes, including photographs and video footage of these events. As with the lower gallery, safety measures and survival techniques are presented, priming them to consider safety measures they can take to protect themselves from earthquakes and tsunamis in the future.
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» This land is still dynamic
» You can prepare for the worst
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» Shake table
» Jumper (seismic sensor)
» Seismic equipment
» Historic photographs
» Video
Master Plan Preview:
Historia de Aguadilla Gallery
Visitors cross over to the historic Farmacia building and step immediately into a beautiful and relevant local story space. Exploring exhibits around the room, they discover Aguadilla’s social history, ranging from Taínos and Cristóbol Colón’s arrival to haciendas, railroads, and Aguadilla’s respected scientists, historians, athletes, and more. Graphics and display cases are situated around the space, and feature artifacts and archival materials.
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Graphics and display cases are situated around the space, and feature artifacts and archival materials. A central space is devoted to Haydée Reichard, an important local historian. Here, visitors can see examples from her artifact collection and delve into her research via computer touchscreens. A lounge area allows visitors to sit and chat — with historic books and photo albums available to browse. This gallery offers opportunities for hosting events. With minimal adjustments, exhibits can be shifted to create more space for gatherings, including formal presentations, dinners, and celebrations. Changing displays may also be situated here, depending on available space and what is being presented.
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» Aguadilla has a deep, rich social history
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» Movable exhibits
