Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

Miami, FL

Overview

One of the few cultural facilities in the world to feature both an aquarium and a planetarium, the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science comprises four buildings totaling 250,000 sf on an expansive campus on Miami’s waterfront. The museum incorporates unusual design elements such as an upside-down “martini glass” aquarium and a spherical planetarium theater connected to the main museum. The planetarium’s audiovisual runs on a 16-million-color 8K projection system, with six Christie Mirage 304K projectors capable of true 120Hz, a 16-speaker surround sound system, and a seamless 67-foot diameter full-dome screen.

(Image ©Ra-Haus)

TEECOM’s Solutions

TEECOM provided telecom, Wi-Fi, and networking design for the project, as well as audiovisual technical consulting on the planetarium. The museum’s architecture, location, and the biosensitivity of its aquarium inhabitants made for a challenging design environment. While visitors to today’s cultural venues expect robust connectivity that powers interactive exhibits and experience sharing, minimalist museum architecture is best served when the technology infrastructure is unseen. Our brief was to provide ubiquitous systems that were easily accessed in order to accommodate exhibit changes, harmless to sensitive living things, and which provided seamless connection.

(Image ©Ra-Haus)

Benefit to the Client

Working closely with the museum architects to integrate power and data distribution into architectural elements, TEECOM created an AV/IT infrastructure, including speakers, mics, lighting, and projectors, which integrates neatly with the design aesthetic of exposed ceilings and concrete minimalism while fulfilling the brief of robust connectivity. There are more than 100 wireless access points throughout the museum, located in creative places such as planters in the museum’s outdoor atriums and loggias. Telecommunications pathways are buried in the concrete walls — a feat that required careful coordination with the design team — and designed to be hurricane-proof.