The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is transforming its 7,000-square-foot Natural Sciences Hall into a space designed to deepen public understanding of climate-related challenges and community-level actions.

The renovation will begin once the hall closes to the public on Tuesday. The updated space, expected to open in spring 2026, will be named the Nancy Stueber Natural Sciences Hall after OMSI’s former president and CEO; she retired in 2020 after 38 years at the museum.

Bearing Architecture designed the project. The team also includes structural engineer VALAR Consulting Engineering and general contractor Walsh Construction.

The hall’s current Science on a Sphere exhibit will return. Also, access through the hall to the museum’s upstairs labs will remain. The museum’s prenatal exhibit will reopen in a different area of the hall. The remainder of the space will be renovated, including construction of new walls, additions of murals, and installation of new lighting to lower energy costs. Key activations in the hall focusing on renewable energy, sustainable living and conservation were developed in partnership with Portland General Electric, a sponsor of the renovation.

A new permanent, interactive exhibition will illustrate the relationship between humans and the environment. “Climate of Change/Clima de Cambio” will feature narratives from the communities in Oregon most affected by climate change.

“We want to invite visitors to explore in hands-on participatory ways how climate change is affecting our region here in the Pacific Northwest, both in our ecosystems and in our communities,” said Ciera Iveson, OMSI’s creative director.

Key climate science concepts and climate solutions will be presented, she said.

The climate impact message carried through the project’s design. OMSI is working with Timberlab to create an entrance using reclaimed yellow cedar left over from construction sites. Inside, tan oak will be used. The team will use mainly reclaimed wood that otherwise would have become waste, Iveson said.

The project’s theme is reclaiming waste, sourcing local building materials, and minimizing use of anything that in the long run would be discarded, she added.

Hall features will include: an immersive multimedia experience developed by Tellart that highlights the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world; design showcasing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest through landscapes, textures, and ecosystems; and other interactive, hands-on elements and education modules.

“We’re putting in a story theater where we’re sharing some documentary films we’ve been shooting of local communities here in the Pacific Northwest and their solutions,” Iveson said. “That’s going to be a really beautiful part of this installation.”

Donors, trustees and sponsors in the past few years have provided support for the project, Iveson said.

The museum’s “Accelerated” campaign raised $6.75 million from 2020-2025 in support of OMSI District plans. Approximately $2 million was allocated for the Nancy Stueber Natural Sciences Hall. Officials also garnered approximately $2 million in federal grants (from the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services), of which $1.5 million was rescinded, Iveson stated in an email. When the grants were terminated, OMSI reduced the project scope and allocated operational funds to its partners to ensure key exhibition elements of the exhibitions could be preserved, she added.

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Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s vision for its future one-of-a-kind neighborhood took its first steps in the review process on Thursday at the Portland Design Commission.

At full buildout, the 34-acre master plan area expects to be home to about 3.4 million square feet of mixed institutional, commercial, retail and residential development – including up to 1,200 units of housing, where at least 20 percent plan to be for low-income families.

The site spans over 10 city blocks from Clay Street to Caruthers Street in the city’s lower east side. It includes Portland Community College’s CLIMB center, a center for continuing learning for individuals, management and business, and Portland Opera’s Hampton Center. Both are members of the master plan’s development team, which Edlen & Co. is advising.

Commissioners remarked that plans are evolving in a positive path for the district since its previous Design Advice Requests in 2017 and 2019, but like most new Central City master plans further details still need to be flushed out. For example, the tract lengths.

Building Façade Lengths

If approved, the master plan would create eight new developable blocks “tracts” with total heights of 250 feet with bonuses, and podium heights of 50 feet. The tract closest to the river would have a max height of 75 feet. But due to the organic nature of the site caused by the Union Pacific Railway tracks to the east and the Willamette River on the west, the building sites are larger than most Portland city blocks – varying in length from 230 feet to 750 feet — and uniquely shaped.

Commissioner Jessica Molinar said some of the tracts have a potential of creating a “visual wall” between the city’s east and central eastside and the river.

ZGF’s Nolan Lienhart, director of planning and urban design, said rather than designating where the brakes in the wall needed to be they wanted to say, “here’s the limit” and then further define the criteria from there. In the case of the PCC-owned tract on the north end of the site that has a 750-foot length, each building’s facade built upon it would be limited up to 250-feet in length.

Commissioner Don Vallaster said while a fair amount of developmental flexibility is needed because they are “really weird, shaped blocks,” there does need to be more of a limit on the building’s lengths. Currently, the PCC tract is the only one that has one.

All three existing institutional partners — OMSI, PCC and Portland Opera — plan to continue and expand their current programs within the plan area. The Portland Opera is planning a new landmark building to exist on its Opera Tract 1 site as a performing arts center.

Adjustments

The development team is seeking five adjustments to the building line standards for the site that dictate how much of the buildings needs to be pulled to the sidewalk’s edge. They are requesting that this requirement be reduced for most of the tracts from the 75 percent standard in the central eastside to 50 percent or 0 percent and have a landscaped edge instead for some.

“Because these tracks have irregular shapes and are larger than the standard city blocks,” ZGF Architects Associate Kate Brooks said, “we wanted to provide more flexibility along the tract edges.”

Ben Nielsen, senior city planner, said his first inclination was that maybe these adjustment requests were asking for too much, but agreed that it would make sense since these tracts are generally larger.

The team is also requesting three adjustments to the parking and loading access standards primarily to allow access to the different street segments the new master plan would connect too.

New Street Structure

Currently, the only roads within the site are Water Avenue, which goes past the PCC building and straight into an OMSI parking lot, and Loop Road that circles a parking lot. To accommodate future freight and commuter traffic, the master plan would add a new street that runs the length of the site and parallel to the tracks.

A new street — New Water Avenue — would be the new main arterial in and out of the area and would take hold of the Major City Bikeway designation that that exists for the current Water Avenue.

The existing Water Avenue would remain, but it be renamed to “Old Water Avenue” and be more of a quieter, slower neighborhood street.

A Return

As of Thursday’s hearing, the Portland Bureau of Transportation had not yet completed the traffic impact analysis for the new district due to a filing error by the applicant. As such, a continuation hearing was scheduled for the review and tentatively set for October.

Commissioners said they hope the project team will return with more details, including an outlined phasing approach for the open space and how wayfinding will look within the master plan area.

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