Stamford Museum & Nature Center breaks ground on first addition in 50 years

Gov. Dannel Malloy and Stamford Mayor David Martin were among the dignitaries on hand at an Oct. 2 groundbreaking ceremony for the Stamford Museum & Nature Center”™s new environmental education farmhouse. The 4,000-square-foot farmhouse is the first addition to the center’s 118-acre campus in 50 years.

The facility will include indoor space for nature and agricultural experiential learning, a  terrace with views of the existing landscape and pastures of Heckscher Farm and a large multipurpose room and mobile teaching kitchen. Enrichment programs will be held year-round for school groups, campers and families. The farmhouse will also provide a teaching environment for the center’s Aligned-With-Our-Schools-Program, which has increased by 300 percent, serving 33,350 school-age children.

The maple sugar and cidering house will be reconstructed and moved with an expectation of creating an additional 13 percent growth in programming.

The ceremony included the announcement of plans for another key addition to the campus: a new astronomy and physical science center, which will complete the center’s master plan to build future capacity for the museum”™s educational and public spaces.

At 8,000 square feet, the astronomy and physical science center will include an expanded observatory with a full planetarium. The facility will feature three levels that include the planetarium auditorium, a science lab and a public outdoor viewing deck with steps leading into a 40-foot aluminum dome that will house a 22-inch research telescope.

It will also serve as a center for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and astronomy and math) education.