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Launch of major new plans for MOSI
Museum launches £54m vision for Manchester
An innovative, eco-friendly building inspired by Manchester’s historic links with the cotton industry is at the heart of a new £54m redevelopment plan for the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). The visionary project – known as Revolution MOSI - would create a dynamic and environmentally sustainable ‘Museum Quarter’ for 21st Century Manchester. It would stretch nearly a kilometre from the River Irwell to the Hilton tower, and would be a world-class cultural, education and entertainment quarter for the city.
The new building at the heart of the redeveloped Museum will be constructed with the same material used in the domes of the Eden Project and for the Allianz Arena in Munich. Translucent light-weight columns will incorporate reference to the cotton on which Manchester built its industry. Photovoltaic cells on the roof will help supply the Museum’s electricity, while its lily-shaped funnels will collect and recycle Manchester’s infamous rainfall for grey water use around site.
The new building will act as a striking new orientation area for the Museum, which currently lacks a cohesive storyline, as it is spread over 2.5 hectares, in the warehouses and associated buildings of the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station (Liverpool Road, built in 1830). One of its four new galleries would be Revolution Manchester, which will showcase the region’s world first innovations that helped shape the world we have today.
Ian Griffin, Director of MOSI said: “The Revolution MOSI project will create an internationally renowned attraction at the heart of everything Manchester has to offer, which will make science and industry inspiring and fun. The newly-redeveloped MOSI would create a modern, environmentally-sustainable Museum which will showcase the world-first innovations and achievements of the North West, while transforming an under-appreciated area of the city into a vibrant new quarter with its own distinct character. The region’s world-changing inventions, such as the AVRO Triplane (Britain’s first aeroplane to fly), Arkwright’s water frame and ‘Baby’ (the first stored program computer), would be displayed in the fantastic new space of the Revolution Manchester gallery. Visitors will also be able to experience the very latest in cutting edge scientific developments in the new ‘Science Alive’ gallery.
He added: “We’re passionate about creating an inspirational Museum for the 21st century, which is inextricably linked to the rest of the city. People will be able to actively learn through collection items, but also feel connected to it as an iconic symbol of what Manchester is all about.”