New Museum in Mexico Makes Science Red Hot – Horno 3 Museo del Acero

“The planning and design work on the exhibit experience for Mexico’s Horno 3 Museo del Acero has been completed by Vancouver-based AldrichPears Associates. Today, this unique museum officially opens its doors to the 2007 Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey.

Working closely with Museo del Acero staff, AldrichPears Associates developed the conceptual design and exhibits for the new museum. This world-class facility tells the history of steelmaking in Mexico, explains the process of making steel step by step, and allows visitors to experience the excitement of standing next to a working blast furnace.

What makes the Museo del Acero so unique is that it is housed inside a ninety-meter-high blast furnace on the site of Mexico’s first integrated steel mill, Fundidora de Monterrey. Horno No. 3 was built in 1967 and decommissioned when the mill closed in 1986.

The Museo del Acero’s 16,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space offers a variety of exciting experiences that cater to diverse audiences. In the history gallery, México a Través del Acero, visitors can listen to steelworkers’ stories on telephones and dress up as factory laborers. The playful, science-based steel gallery, La Acerí, makes use of immersive environments and full body play to transport visitors to the mill or the mine. The museum’s must-see attraction, El Gigante Dormido brings Horno No. 3 to life through shooting sparks and bursts of flames. Finally, visitors can ride inside what was once the ore lift to the top of the blast furnace.

“Visitors see how science and technology is relevant in their everyday lives by being able to interact with exhibits on the steelmaking process,” says Luis López Pérez, the director of the museum. Part science center, part museum, and part thrill ride, the Museo del Acero will inspire the country’s future steel scientists and engineers.

About AldrichPears Associates:
AldrichPears Associates is a Vancouver-based firm that provides exhibit design and planning services to museums, science centers, zoos, and interpretive centers. Serving an international clientele, the firm plans and creates compelling and entertaining visitor experiences that captivate the imagination and invite lifelong learning.

For more information on the exhibit experience at the Museo del Acero, contact:
Christine Berka
Director, Business Development
AldrichPears Associates
604.669.7044 ext. 159
cberka@aldrichpears.com “

• Ricardo Salinas Breaks Ground for What Will Be the Most Modern Television Studio in Latin America – Mexico City
• Brazil replaces Mexico as China’s top market in Latin America and boosts its surplus as well.
• The mayor of a wealthy suburb (San Pedro Garza Garcia) of Monterrey said Monday that he has sent his family to the United States for their own safety as he pursues his campaign against extortion and kidnapping gangs.
• Expert: Juárez violence a ‘terrorist war’
• Mexican Mennonites Impacted by Drug Violence
• Mexican farmers reeling from worst drought in decades
• Mexico City’s famed dance-for-peso halls fading
• Americans Running South: Why We are Flocking to Mexico for Work
• On the mayor’s agenda: ‘Civilize’ Mexico City – Marcelo Ebrard
• Juárez violence: Drug-war brutality persists despite presence of military
• Mexican doctors pointed to parents as the reason Mexico leads the world in child obesity, a problem made worse in this country by the lack of sports training.
• Mexico’s top domestic security official said Friday that sectors of the general public have cooperated with drug cartels in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, and the government is about to launch new social programs there to combat gangs.
• Susana Iglesias, writing from the streets – Mexico City native is winner of the first-ever Aura Estrada Prize, an international competition for young women writing literature in Spanish.
• Mexican authorities predict fewer Mexican immigrants will be back home for Christmas
• Mapping Out Mexico – Navigating your way through Mexico can be tricky business sometimes – MexicoMaps.com
• Mexican migrants are spending more money on taxes in the United States than on the remittances they send home to relatives, according to a new study by Mexico’s largest bank, BBVA Bancomer.
• Ana Maria Perez Gonzalez, said to be the oldest woman in the world, died in Mexico this week. She was 119.
• Welcome Ceremony for José Hernández Moreno, NASA Astronaut in México
• Mexico’s Drug Violence Gives Rise To Vigilantism
• Mexico anti-abortion fight moves to federal level