PHILADELPHIA — The Franklin Institute is well known for having a big heart. In a couple of years, it'll be recognized for its brain, too.
The downtown Philadelphia science museum has broken ground on a large expansion that will include an exhibit featuring a giant walk-through brain, which will serve as the modern-day foil to the beloved walk-through heart built in the 1950s.
Dennis Wint, museum president and chief executive officer, said Thursday's groundbreaking "marks a new beginning for the museum, as we look to the future and the many exciting possibilities through which we can continue to inspire a passion for science learning."
The museum expansion — the largest since its founding in 1824 — will also add a conference center, classroom space and new galleries for traveling exhibits, according to Franklin Institute officials.
The "Your Brain" exhibit will be the centerpiece of a 53,000-square-foot addition scheduled to open in the summer of 2014.
The high-tech brain will be very different from the decidedly low-tech "Giant Heart," a plaster and papier-mache creation that invites visitors to follow the same path that blood circulates in their own tickers as a recorded heartbeat plays from embedded speakers. Created as a temporary exhibit in 1954, it became a permanent fixture due to its instant and persistent popularity.
Conversely, "Your Brain" promises a multimedia experience with interactive kiosks and hands-on stations for visitors to explore how the brain works. Designers are still working on the specifics, the museum said.
The new addition will be called the Nicholas & Athena Karabots Pavilion in honor of the couple who donated $10 million, the largest gift in the museum's history, to the project. Nicholas Karabots made his fortune as a publisher of puzzle magazines and in real estate.
The museum has raised $60 million since kicking off a fundraising campaign in 2006 to renovate, upgrade and expand its facilities, exhibits and programming.
Online:
The Franklin Institute: http://www.fi.edu