Kristin Friedrich, NHM

kfriedri@nhm.org; (213) 763-3532; Cell: (323) 449-7370

 

Rachel Bauch, Ruder Finn

bauchr@ruderfinn.com; (310) 882-4013; Cell: (323) 841-4139

 

DRAMATIC NEW EXHIBITION

AGE OF MAMMALS OPENS JULY 11, 2010, LAUNCHING

MUSEUM-WIDE TRANSFORMATION AT

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES

 

Three New Exhibitions Fill Renovated 1913 Building and Feature New Approach to Connecting Science to Visitor Experience 

 

 

LOS ANGELES, CA - The spectacular new Age of Mammals exhibition at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park will open to the public on Sunday, July 11, 2010 in the Museum's newly restored historic 1913 Building, along with two intriguing exhibitions, What on Earth? and Life Through the Ages: Revisiting the Paintings of Charles R. Knight, to debut inside the Museum's iconic Rotunda. They are the first signposts in a five-year-long transformation of the Museum, which encompasses a physical renovation of space, as well as a thoughtful reconsideration of what science and the story of the Earth mean to visitors.

 

By 2013, nearly half of the Museum's public spaces will have been renovated, with new amenities such as a new café and an expanded Museum store; five completely new permanent exhibitions, including a new interactive space and dinosaur hall in 2011; more than three acres of urban nature experiences and exhibits serving as a new front yard for the Museum, along with a pedestrian bridge and car park opening in 2011 and 2012; an exhibition about Southern California's natural and cultural history opening in 2012; and the Museum's centennial anniversary in 2013.

 

"This July marks the public unveiling of an institution-wide transformation that is about light, layering and transparency. It uncovers our own history while presenting a new course for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County," said Dr. Jane Pisano, president and director of the Museum. "While we have lovingly restored our original home, the 1913 Building, we have also provided a very modern renovation of its public and exhibition spaces to let in more light, expose the beauty of the structure, and develop more amenities for visitors. In this setting, we have chosen to bring the Museum's scientific research and ambitious discoveries out from behind closed lab doors. This approach creates new, immersive visitor experiences that explore the 'big picture' of our planet and the interrelatedness of our natural and cultural worlds." 

 

Age of Mammals

A museum experience 65 million years in the making, Age of Mammals displays some of the Museum's—and the world's—most awe-inspiring fossil mammals, many of them exhibited for the first time. Adding "how" to "wow," the all-new Age of Mammals also shows as never before how a special class of animals—including human beings—evolved amid tremendous changes in the Earth's environment, and dramatically altered the Earth in turn. It's the first large scale new exhibition to debut at the Museum in 20 years. 

 

Among the dozens of breathtaking specimens on view from the Museum's great collections are the 50,000-year-old Simi Valley mastodon, shown for the first time since it was discovered in 2001; the mysterious paleoparadoxiid, an extinct relative of elephants and sea cows, which lived on the California coastline 10 to 12 million years ago and is as new to scientists as it is to Museum visitors; and an ancient species of sperm whale, its fossilized bones never before assembled by any institution, which floats high overhead in the beautifully restored, soaring hall. Natural light from the skylight and arched windows filters down on these and other rare and authentic specimens—including a saber-toothed cat, a giant jaguar, a brontothere (or "thunderbeast") that looks more like a dinosaur than a mammal—which are mounted as if in motion, swimming or running or rearing back on their hind legs.

 

More than 230 specimens—discovered around the world and a few miles away—are brought to life through the evocative exhibition design and the all-new interactive displays, designed to appeal to people of all ages. For young visitors, seven mechanical interactives convey complex scientific ideas in simple and memorable ways. By sliding a lever or moving a knob, children see and understand how the Earth's vast land masses shifted over time, with mammals migrating from continent to continent. In another interactive, they will learn how scientists judge the age of a fossil by the depth at which it was excavated. The exhibition also features dynamic multimedia consoles revealing the behind-the-scenes story of how the fossil evidence is discovered, identified and studied. These interactive experiences range from mystery-matching games (which explore how scientists compare and categorize specimens) to touch screens that allow visitors to "uncover" a specimen, examine the individual bones in close detail and then assemble them into a whole. Much of this content, as well as additional visuals and glimpses into the Museum's paleontological work, are available at www.nhm.org. 

 

According to the curator in charge of Age of Mammals, Dr. John Harris, NHM Head of Vertebrate Studies and Chief Curator of the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, "This exhibition is partly our own story as human beings, and the story of our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom. But it is also the story of our planet as a whole, during an era that has seen the relocation of continents, the reorientation of wind patterns and ocean currents, and long-term climate change. Age of Mammals is the first permanent museum exhibition to trace 65 million years of evolution—from the extinction of the large dinosaurs to the rise of humans—within the context of epochal changes in the Earth's geology and climate. We believe this new way of telling our story is not only exciting and illuminating but also provides a powerful message for people today, putting climate change and human impact on our environment into the context of long-term geological and evolutionary processes."

What's On View in Age of Mammals

Encompassing one entire wing of the original 1913 Building, Age of Mammals is designed to fill the two-floor space with wonderful specimens, making use of both the main floor and the extraordinary floating mezzanine. The story begins 65 million years ago, at the time of the rapid extinction of the large dinosaurs, which opened up the world to a class of animals—mammals—that had previously been but a minor part of the world's biodiversity.

The central media presentation in Age of Mammals shows visitors how our planet's great land masses split apart or crashed together, vastly altering the globe's temperatures and weather patterns and creating new environments with changing resources that affected the evolution of familiar—and unfamiliar—classes of mammals. Then, having set this immensely large stage, Age of Mammals tells the story of the small, furry, nocturnal, insect-eating animals that began to spread over the landscape—and into the seas, and through the skies—adapting to the opportunities of each fresh habitat, evolving into an astonishing array of species and responding to new environmental changes wherever they went.

Some of the Museum's most fascinating animal specimens are displayed in the ground-floor installation, where visitors learn how grazing animals such as horses evolved as the Earth cooled and grasslands started to replace forests; how carnivorous predators such as bone-cracking dogs evolved with the grazers; and how characteristics ranging from methods of locomotion to differences in diet have reflected changes in the environment. In other chapters of the ground-floor installation, visitors see how whales evolved from hippo-like ancestors and how mammals from Asia, Africa and South America contributed to our continent's diversity.

Perhaps most compelling of all, the ground floor of the exhibit shows how some types of African apes began walking on two feet, as the equatorial forests gave way to open grasslands some seven million years ago. Tool use took hold, diets changed, brain size expanded, and waves of human ancestors began to migrate across the globe, no longer just adapting to changes in climate and environment but producing them—down to the present day. The display concludes with the stories of existing mammals, and how humans today are affecting their own future and that of all other mammals. Visitors exit by one of the exhibition's icons—a polar bear, representing a species that could become extinct in our lifetime. On hand is information about how visitors can become better stewards of the planet's biodiversity.

How do scientists know all of this? On the mezzanine level, Age of Mammals takes the story further by revealing the tools and methods that scientists use to reconstruct the past.

Here visitors view displays including the fossil of paleoparadoxiid and learn how a specimen like this is discovered, studied, identified and reconstructed. An evocative display re-imagines what sites around Los Angeles have looked like throughout the past 40 million years, and explains how our knowledge of mammals helps scientists to reconstruct the geologic past. Visitors glimpse the work conducted at the Natural History Museum's different excavation sites. Overhead, apparently "swimming" above the mezzanine, are some of the Museum's spectacular specimens of aquatic mammals, including the sperm whale and a sea lion.

Age of Mammals Behind-the-Scenes

Age of Mammals has been designed for the Natural History Museum by Reich+Petch Design International. Exhibit fabrication was done by production house Cinnabar California, Inc., of Los Angeles. Graphic design services were provided by Kim Baer of KBDA and designer Leon Rodriguez, both of Los Angeles. Second Story, of Portland, provided major media exhibit and visitor experiences. Artist Randy Cooper, working together with NHM paleontologist Dr. Larry Barnes, created mesh, see-through sculptures of Museum specimens: a sea cow, a baby sperm whale and a pinniped. These extraordinary sculptures "flesh out" the specimens without obscuring the original fossil inside, providing a feeling for what it would have been like in life while allowing visitors to see the real fossil specimen.

 

The Haaga Family Rotunda

A modern cabinet of curiosities awaits visitors inside the new Haaga Family Rotunda with its What on Earth? exhibit—the initial installation designed for this magnificent architectural space, topped by the brilliantly restored dome and Walter Horace Judson stained-glass skylight. What on Earth? presents enigmatic and visually arresting specimens and objects from the Museum's diverse collections. A platypus egg, a carrier shell with attached marine invertebrates, an ancient Peruvian gold feather and a strange animation studio sound effects device are among the objects mounted in eight state-of-the-art glass cases nestled between scagliola columns. Climate-controlled and earthquake-proof, the cases were designed and fabricated specifically for the Rotunda. They allow visitors a close-up look at the beautifully lit and seemingly floating objects inside, engaging them in a series of enigmatic and playful questions while answers and current scientific theories are presented on the back side.

 

Another new exhibit in the Rotunda, Life Through the Ages, returns the Vermont marble walls of the mezzanine level to their original purpose—the display of paintings—through an installation of artworks by the extraordinary American painter Charles R. Knight (1874-1953). Sixteen of the artist's iconic oil-on-canvas paintings of ancient environments and extinct animals, taken from a series executed in 1944-46, are shown around the mezzanine. They are accompanied by comments from NHM scientists comparing Knight's interpretations with current knowledge. Providing both a historical reference to yesterday's NHM and a sentimental link with it, Life Through the Ages shows how ongoing scientific discoveries are continually providing better and more detailed information about the eras presented in Age of Mammals and the upcoming Dinosaur Mysteries.

 

Renovating the 1913 Building

The NHM's 1913 Building opened on November 6, 1913, as the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Each of its three wings, radiating from the Rotunda, was dedicated to a separate discipline. Using extensive data from the NHM's own archives—including historic drawings, photos and documents—the project team uncovered the original design, layout and construction methods of the original building and its subsequent 1920s additions in order to restore the building, while modernizing it inside and out.

 

The renovation began in December 2006, led by CO Architects Principal, Jorge de la Cal, and Cordell Corporation President, Don Webb, with Matt Construction. Cordell has a strong background in working with preservation interests, and guided by a commissioned historic structure report by Brenda Levin & Associates, the team's first step was the seismic strengthening of the landmark 1913 Building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Vertical shafts, each six inches in diameter, were cored into the exterior masonry walls from the roof and through the foundation. The shafts were then fitted with steel reinforcing rods and filled with a high-strength polymer resin which bonds to both masonry and steel. This novel application of bonded carbon-fiber technology, originally developed by the aerospace industry, has permitted the seismic strengthening of the building without any visible effect on the historic facade, and is perhaps the largest such application of this technology in the U.S.

 

In addition to fortifying the walls, the seismic retrofit involved thinning out the building's heavy concrete rooftops and replacing the mass with the stronger and lighter bonded carbon-fiber-materials. The exterior dome was additionally reinforced with steel, and to prevent water damage, polymer epoxy was injected into hairline cracks that had been exacerbated by earthquakes.

 

The early phase of construction also focused on the restoration of the brilliantly colored stained glass skylight at the apex of the Rotunda. This exacting work was carried out by David Judson, great-grandson of the skylight's designer, the eminent Walter Horace Judson. Under his direction, the ornate and elegant stained glass was cleaned, repaired and strengthened, bringing it back to its full glory 53 feet above the Rotunda's floor.

 

The renovation team then moved on to uncover and restore the building's exquisite, original architectural details, many of which had been obscured over the years. This phase of construction included the careful restoration and cleaning of the east entrance portico; cleaning and repair of the iconic ribbed and ceramic-tiled exterior dome with its copper parapet; uncovering of marble walls and mosaics; the reconstruction of the building's gargoyles and a newly created six-foot eagle above the east entrance.

NHM Next 
The evolution at the Natural History Museum means exciting new experiences and resources will open each and every year to the public over the next three years:

 

• 2011:                            
  The Demonstration Center, a new interactive family learning space, opens.

 

• July 2011:                  
• The highly anticipated exhibition Dinosaur Mysteries opens.

 

• 2011/2012:                 
•  The North Campus opens, providing new front entrance, pedestrian bridge, carpark, and 3.5 acres of green space filled with nature experiences, community science projects, and programming space.
  
  
• 2012:                            
• The Nature Lab, the inside component to the North Campus, debuts.

 

• 2012:                            
• A new permanent exhibition exploring the natural and cultural history of Los Angeles and Southern California, opens.

 

• 2013:                            
• More transformed gallery spaces are unveiled leading to the celebration of

NHM's centennial. With the North Campus and Nature Lab, the Museum is an inside/outside experience; its visitor amenities (new stores, café, restrooms and elevators) have greatly increased; 12 new galleries are renovated; and five new exhibits are open.

 

 

About the Museum
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, near downtown.  It is open daily from 9:30 am to 5 pm. The Museum was the first dedicated museum building in Los Angeles, opening its doors in 1913. It has amassed one of the world's most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history—with more than 35 million objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. The Natural History Family of Museums includes the NHM, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (Hancock Park/Mid-Wilshire), and the William S. Hart Park and Museum (Newhall, California).