Hybrid museum-nature center opens in Lake Charles, La.
Port Wonder Children’s Museum and Nature Center recently held a grand opening following a $20 million+ construction project. Port Wonder encompasses both the Children’s Museum of Southwest Louisiana and a Nature & Science Center by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
The unique museum-nature center hybrid facility is paving the way for a larger lakefront development effort in downtown Lake Charles, La., with an iconic design that was created to enhance the new center’s visibility and accessibility. It offers opportunities for the public to play and learn about Louisiana’s rich natural heritage.
The facility offers both STEM-based, hands-on interactive learning for children as well as an immersive, live-animal, Louisiana coast experience.
The children’s museum and Nature & Science Center occupy separate wings on either side of the facility, with an undulating roofline that converges to form a shared lobby. The building’s contoured, curvilinear form is inspired by the winding waterways of Southwest Louisiana that culminate at Lake Charles.
The 15,000-sf children’s museum features four interactive galleries: Nature, Health, Tech, and City that are designed to spark curiosity and foster creativity through innovative, hands-on experiences and exhibits.
The nature gallery invites children to crawl through an alligator’s nest, explore an oversized vegetable pollinator garden, and marvel at a whimsical banana spider web.
The Sportsman’s Paradise section introduces young explorers to Louisiana’s rich outdoor heritage with interactive fishing and crabbing exhibits as well as a dynamic water cycle table that brings science to life.
The Health Gallery offers opportunities to explore the human body through engaging exhibits such as a giant interactive nose in the area focused on the five senses, and on a display that includes pedaling a stationary bicycle while a mock skeleton on an adjacent bike illustrates body motion.
In the Tech Gallery, creativity and problem-solving take center stage with STEM activities using simple machines to experiment with light, air, and chemistry to learn how these concepts power local industries.
The City Gallery immerses children in a miniature world of local character with a variety of interactive spaces including Safety Square, Kids Port, the Calcasieu Pass Lighthouse Climber, and Cowboy’s Café.
Across the lobby, the 5,700-sf Nature & Science Center—the first of its kind in Louisiana—offers 15,000 gallons of fresh and saltwater displays including a marsh tank and barrier island fish tanks, a 2,900-gallon touch tank with stingrays, and a major Gulf aquarium showcasing the destination’s native aquatic species. As the visitor journey continues, the gallery spaces increase in height, creating greater volumes for signature exhibits with large windows to the north and south connecting the interior to walking trails and a 75-foot covered fishing pier along the lake. The center’s interactive exhibits showcase key initiatives of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries such as coastal restoration, fisheries management, and the innovative Rigs to Reefs Program.
On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: City of Lake Charles, La.
Design architect: CambridgeSeven
Architect of record: Randy Goodloe
MEP engineer: M&E Engineering
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
General contractor/construction manager: Lemoine Co.
