Kingdom Of Learning

The young girl laughs and waves to the milling crowd as she pumps the pedals of a unicycle with an oversize counterweight fixed beneath. As she tools back and forth along a thin cable strung 19 ft. above the ground, her friends wait for a chance to take a spin. Meanwhile they get an impromptu physics lesson from a guide on how the counterweight and gravity keep the unstable vehicle in equilibrium and prevent their friend from tumbling over.

It's this heady mix of circus and educational extravaganza that draws visitors to a spectacular new science center that opened last week in Columbus, Ohio. Called COSI (Center of Science and Industry), the $125 million facility is a jewel of innovation--a place that its president, former space-shuttle astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, says "persuades people that the words science, learning and fun actually do belong in the same sentence." The anchor for a $2 billion downtown economic-redevelopment program, the complex occupies a 17-acre site along the Scioto River in a once blighted neighborhood that is already brimming with new residential and retail buildings, renovated office structures and a National Hockey League arena.

Designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, COSI is housed in a stark shell-like exterior that sits like a giant canoe across from downtown Columbus. Inside its purposely skewed interior walls (variously aligned to three different versions of north: true, magnetic and the local street grid's) are seven thematic areas called Learning Worlds. Within each, visitors are free to immerse themselves in scientific concepts that range from basic physics to advanced medicine. "One of the problems with all science centers is the 'Ping-Pong-ball effect,'" says Joseph Wisne, COSI's vice president for design and production. "Visitors literally bounce from one interactive device to the next, pushing buttons to see what things do, as opposed to using them to engage their own sense of creativity, adventure and learning."

Combining interactivity with what Wisne calls "the emotional and contextual power of a theme park," COSI aims to leave visitors with a greater understanding of the concepts underpinning the science they have been entertained by. In the Gadgets Learning World, for example, visitors see Newtonian mechanics in action by shooting balls into a Rube Goldberg-like contraption in which they roll, fall and bounce according to fundamental laws set forth three centuries ago. Or they awaken to the subtleties of modern chaos theory by sending a set of gangly-armed pendulums into seemingly random gyrations. For lighter fare, they line up at the Gadget Cafe "lunch counter" to work with a smorgasbord of hinges, coffeepots and other items. Using screwdrivers, scissors and pliers from the utensil rack, they build such original toys as tabletop cars powered by mousetrap springs.

Visitors to the grotto-like Ocean Learning World experience the mysteries of the sea. Wending their way through a dank cavern, they are suddenly plunged into an aquatic research center lined with industrial-steel walls and exposed pipes. There they can park themselves in a yellow submarine once used for deep-sea exploration or watch wet-suited guides equipped with scuba gear investigate a simulated shipwreck in an 85,000-gal. tank.