On May 22, the Lehigh Valley celebrated the grand opening of the Da Vinci Science Center at PPL Pavilion in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania. The new 67,000-square-foot facility will serve as a hub for education, innovation and community engagement in the region.
The new facility features over 30,000 square feet of exhibit space where visitors of all ages will be immersed in one-of-a-kind STEAM-related experiences. It is projected to draw more than 400,000 visitors and generate an economic output of nearly $34 million annually.
“In addition to being a major attraction for the region, the new Da Vinci Science Center at PPL Pavilion will be a regional center of excellence for STEAM education, and a workforce development partner to help prepare students for careers in high demand fields,” said Lin Erickson, Executive Director and CEO. “The science center will be a key contributor to the local and regional economy both directly and indirectly by helping to inspire and educate the next generation of engineers, scientists, innovators and programmers.”
More than 50 interactive exhibits are showcased in four main galleries: Curiosity Hall, Science in the Making, Lehigh Valley Health Network My Body and Lehigh River Watershed. The lower level of the new science center is home to the Da Vinci STEAM Learning Center, the incubator for onsite and community-based STEAM programming.
Exhibits expose visitors to the careers available in the region and beyond through interactive activities, with a focus on fields that are prominent in the Lehigh Valley region, like its $8.1 billion manufacturing sector. These are in partnership with some of the region’s largest employers, including the following:
- Manufacturer of building components, ATAS International’s exhibit encourages visitors to learn about scientific and engineering principles and how they are applied daily at Lehigh Valley manufacturers and other employers.
- Mack Trucks provided an electric truck cab, demonstrating the fusion of innovation and environment.
- Olympus explains how its equipment allows health care professionals to save lives by performing a colonoscopy.
- Victaulic created a “pipe organ” that allows visitors to explore how different size pipes make different sounds.
“This new science center is a major investment in Allentown that will transform Hamilton Street, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to Center City every year. More importantly, this regional education hub will transform the lives of young people in Allentown, helping them dream a new future for our city,” said Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.
The DaVinci Science Center adds to Lehigh’s three career and technical schools that are tightly aligned to employers’ demands and graduate more than 1,000 high school students each year. The center offers additional amenities like fully equipped classrooms, advanced laboratories and interactive workshops.
