Magna Science Adventure Centre
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Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction, primarily appealing to children. It is located in a disused steel mill in the Templeborough district of Rotherham, England. The site is formerly home to the Steel, Peech & Tozer steel works (also known as Steelos).
The principal exhibits are divided into five pavilions, Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Power (The last one is very small). There is also a large outdoor play area and water play area.
The site is often used for staging events, conferences and gigs in a spectacular setting won the Enjoy England Gold Award for Business Tourism in 2006 as well as many other awards for the high quality of product.
The creative, development, funding and building process was led by Stephen Feber, who selected the design team, led by Wilkinson Eyre, architects and Event Communications, exhibition designers. Tim Caulton directed exhibition development, introducing spectacular exhibits that bridged science and art, such as Ned Kahn's fire tornado, "The Big Melt" (described below) and works by San Francisco 'artist in electricity' Cork Marcheschi. Magna's exhibitions won the Best Exhibition category at the 2002 Design Week Awards.
The Magna Science Adventure Centre won the 2001 RIBA Stirling Prize for its architects Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Mott MacDonald's and Buro Happold's innovative use of space in the old steelworks. Visitors are often as impressed by the building itself as the attractions contained within it.
[edit] "The Big Melt" Display
Every hour on the hour Magna holds a spectacular firework and SFX display called "The big melt". Its purpose is to demonstrate how steel was made in an electric arc furnace until the steelworks closed in 1993. The special effects consist of:
- Several fog and smoke Machines.
- Multiple loud speakers, including three Bose Bass Cannons mounted directly behind the viewing platform.
- 6 Spark machines. These are custom-built machines where compressed air and (optionally) propane is directed towards the point where two continuously-fed reels of welding wire meet.
- 4 "gas bombs"; variously-sized pressure vessels which are charged with propane and discharged through a pilot ring at appropriate points in the show.
- 8 gas spreader bars (flames from under the furnace lid)
- Three "electrodes" which raise and lower into the furnace during the show.
- Many DMX controlled lights including Martin MAC600 and MAC2000, some of which are mounted on an industrial crane running on tracks above the show.
The control system for the Big Melt is located in an air-conditioned room near the toilets at Water level. In theory the show can be repeated up to four times an hour, but in practice it is usually run once an hour, or twice an hour if visitor numbers are very high.
[edit] External links
- The Remains of Templeborough Finishing Banks
- Official website
- Satellite photos/maps options for this location
- Stephen Feber
- Tim Caulton
- Cork Marcheschi
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