A museum born out of a blast furnace

Some might have dismissed Blast Furnace No. 3 as an ageing, industrial relic, but Fundidora Park envisioned a museum inside its crumbling walls. Today, that dream is fast becoming a reality. As Monterrey's newest museum and science center, Horno Trex will open to the public in conjunction with the Universal Forum of Cultures in September, 2007.

Click here for a spanish news video about the opening of Museo del Acero.

A hundred years ago, the park was the site of the country's first integrated steel mill: Fundidora de Monterrey. Today, it provides green space, as well as educational, recreational, and business facilities for over two million visitors a year. As a National Archeological Industrial Site, Fundidora Park is already home to a number of beautifully restored heritage buildings.

Dominating the Monterrey skyline, Blast Furnace No. 3 is one of the most recognizable icons of the city. It symbolizes the importance industry plays in Monterrey's past and future. For the Patronato Museo del Acero, it was the perfect place to provide a fun and educational environment for families and kids to discover steelmaking history and technology in Mexico.

To make this vision a reality, the design team of AldrichPears Associates, in collaboration with museum staff, developed a unique and engaging experience that introduces visitors to the importance of steelmaking in Mexico and the science behind this important material. The design team also worked closely with Grimshaw Architects, Oficina de Arquitectura, and local advisors and consultants to find solutions to the challenges presented in the restoration of the blast furnace. AldrichPears Associates teamed up with Vista Collaborative Arts to develop the concept for one of the highlights of the museum: the special effects Furnace Show. Currently, the AldrichPears team is working with The Taylor Group, Margen Rojo, Acumen Engineering, Unified Field, Performance Solutions, and Lightworks to design, fabricate, and install the exhibits.

Goals and Challenges

The interpretive objectives of the Museo del Acero are to tell the century-old story of steelmaking in Mexico, explain the process of making steel step by step, and provide visitors with a way of experiencing the excitement of standing next to Blast Furnace No. 3 when molten steel pours out in a river of fire and smoke. The challenge was to figure out how best to tell these complex stories - stories that had never been told before in a museum and science center - in a way that visitors would find fascinating and easy to understand.

While creating a museum within an abandoned forty-year-old blast furnace was an exceptional opportunity, the design team had to take into account the desire to preserve the historical integrity of the building while providing visitors with an exciting educational experience.

Design strategies

The design team used a number of strategies to meet these challenges.

Provide visitors with choices

The Museo del Acero offers a range of distinct experiences. Visitors can embark on an emotional trip through time in the history gallery, Mexico: A Portrait in Steel; visit the playful, science-based steel gallery, SteelWorks; see the blast furnace come to life in the special effects Furnace Show; or ride the ore lift to the top of the blast furnace to experience the Catwalk Adventure.

Make the content engaging

Opportunities for hands-on interaction abound in the history gallery. Visitors can listen to workers' stories on telephones, watch images of steelworkers moving about in a model of Mexico's first skyscraper, and delve deeper into the story of steelmaking through computer interactives. The steel gallery makes use of immersive environments and full body play to transport visitors to the mill or the mine to experience different processes. Kids can slide down a giant cutaway model of a blast furnace while visitors of all ages can perform tests at the Steel Lab.

Use icons to anchor spaces

Large-scale artifacts like a torpedo car and a full-size delivery truck help draw visitors through the different exhibit areas of the history gallery. A large-scale, three-dimensional diagram of ironmaking, steelmaking, and milling forms the backdrop of the steel gallery, and provides context for interactive exhibits.

Give visual clues with graphics

The primary colors used in the graphic panels vary in order to give each exhibit area a defined look. The palette used in the history gallery graphics is muted to complement the dignified feel of the historic space. In contrast, colors for the steel gallery graphics are modern, colorful, playful, and energetic.

Provide a multilayered experience through multimedia

Video and audio exhibits provide a multi-sensory experience to communicate moods as well as messages. Archival audio/visual programming on an old-fashioned radio and television hint at a bygone era in the history gallery. Visitors to the steel gallery can climb aboard an ore train and watch the landscape change as the train makes its way to the steel plant. Audience members at the Furnace Show can get a sense of what it was like to be in the presence of an active blast furnace through sound effects, shooting sparks, and a simulated river of molten iron.

Conclusion

The Museo del Acero involves a lot of firsts. It's the first time a blast furnace has been repurposed to function as a museum, and the first time that the story of steel in Mexico has been told in an interpretive facility. The AldrichPears design team is thrilled to have had the opportunity to meet the unique challenges that this project presents by developing creative and innovative exhibit design solutions.

AldrichPears Associates is looking forward to the opening day of this world-class facility, a museum and science center that will connect visitors to the steelmaking history of Mexico and inspire the country's future steel scientists and engineers.

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