Muroran City Environmental Science Museum

This newly built facility was opened as the successor to Hokkaido's first science museum, the Muroran City Youth Science Museum (opened in 1963), with a new theme of "environment."
The aim of displays is to help people of all ages, especially children, become familiar with science on a daily basis and feel hope for the future of the Earth and local communities.
The environmental corner introduces environmental innovation projects that utilize Muroran's unique characteristics and strengths cultivated through manufacturing, as well as efforts toward a sustainable future. The main displays, "Watching Moruelani," is a virtual exhibit in which visitors walk across satellite photos of Muroran spread across the floor, and use an AR tablet to explore manufacturing sites, renewable energy sites, and natural spots. Visitors can displays scenery that would normally be difficult to see in real life, such as 360-degree footage of factories and drone footage of natural landscapes.
The science experience corner is made up of devices that allow visitors to experience the fundamentals and principles of science. Some of the devices from the old building have been remodeled and reinstalled, preserving the history of the facility and the memories of its residents. The scattered devices are connected by experiment counters, enhancing face-to-face communication spaces, and playful elements are also incorporated into displays, such as large play equipment with a motif of Muroran's nature.

①Sixty years have passed since the museum opened, and the science environment for children has changed dramatically with the advent of the Internet, programming, and artificial intelligence. However, the way our volunteers interact with children has remained unchanged, with an emphasis on face-to-face communication. In today's world, where unmanned and automated systems are in demand, the presence of volunteers who are there to support children when they go to play is important, and this attitude, which has long been loved by local residents, is a strong characteristic of this facility. However, with displays plans that rely on volunteers, the impact of annual renewal of human resources was an issue.

②At the time of design, when the call for "decarbonization" had just started to be made, Muroran City's main industry was the steel industry, which emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide, so the city's vision for the future and how to express it in displays at this facility became an issue. Because the facility is named after the word "environment," the decision on specific environmental measures is directly linked to the content of displays.
In order to realize the above customer and social issues as displays, we received a request from the customer to entrust the establishment of the facility to the staff who continued with the design and construction.

Regarding ①, we enhanced displays space to accommodate volunteer activities. We installed a multi-purpose "manufacturing showcase" and multiple "laboratory and communication spaces," and were able to bring volunteers and citizens closer together while retaining the image of the old building.

Regarding ②, because the realization of the environmental corner is the very reason for the existence of the facility, in order to concretize the city's environmental policies, a policy was decided upon through interviews with related companies and experts, location shooting was carried out within the city, and the expressions and images of the plates and illustrations were carefully examined, with consideration given to every single word of the text, and the city's relevant department and displays staff worked together to create the site.

During construction, they took into account as many of our detailed requests as possible and implemented them carefully. Furthermore, even after the facility began operation, they listened carefully to the voices of the operator and responded to maintenance and inspections, which I am extremely grateful for.