If you thought City Park was already packed, wait until the Louisiana Children’s Museums opens in 2018.

Building the Museum

On Wednesday, January 26, the Louisiana Children’s Museum announced details on its upcoming City Park location. The groundbreaking for its new site will take place in 2017, according to the museum officials.

The $45.5 million campus is designed by Seattle-based architecture firm Mithun. Waggonner & Ball will serve as the local architects for the project.

The new site will overlook the the lagoon bounded by the New Orleans Museum of Art and Tad Gormley Stadium.

The Louisiana Children’s Museum at City Park will have a building area of 56,400 square feet placed on a 8.44 acres. Of the total building space, 18,000 square feet will be allocated to five galleries across the campus.

The City Park location will have both an indoor and outdoor elements. The campus will include five indoor exhibits in its main building, and a literacy center, a parent/teacher resource center, and an outdoor Café in its South Wing building.

After its 2018 opening, the museum expects over 225,000 visitors.

Once the City Park Louisiana Children Museum is fully operational, the museum will close its 420 Julia Street location.

Funding

Planning and fundraising for the Louisiana Children’s Museum at City Park began in 2006. Over the last 11 years, the museum has raised over $17 million from over 330 private donors. Additional funds to meet the $45.5 million goal came from federal grants and support from the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.

The museum is opening a public donation phase to ensure it maintains its operation after its 2018 relocation.

New Exhibits and Buildings

The campus will feature five galleries, a literacy center, a parent/teacher resource center, and edible garden, a sensory garden and a full service Café.

Check out the fly through video that brings the Louisiana Children Museum’s renderings to life:

Here’s what to know about the South Wing and the five galleries:

South Wing Building

Louisiana Children’s Museum

The South Wing of the Louisiana Children’s Museum will hold public offerings, including the toy and book store, a parent/teacher resource center, literacy center and the waterfront Café.

The campus will also feature the VestiBlue, similar to the the iconic blue doors on Julia Street; two education celebration rooms, indoor and outdoor dining areas, the executive director’s office and a board room.

Play With Me

Louisiana Children’s Museum

One of the first exhibits will be a ground-floor gallery designed with children three years or younger in mind. Inside this section will be a sensory lagoon, a cypress tree nook, a puppet theater, a sensory wall and a discovery zone.

Follow That Food

Louisiana Children’s Museum

The Follow That Food will be the largest gallery on the campus. It will include a mock market, a creole kitchen, a ports and cargo exhibit, a scents and scales exhibit and a bean counter. Exhibits in the gallery will demonstrate how food goes from harvest to the market.

Dig into Nature

Louisiana Children’s Museum

This gallery will showcase natural resources unique to Louisiana, and its ecosystem.

Make Your Mark

Louisiana Children’s Museum

This second floor gallery will celebrate art unique to New Orleans, including architectural, musical, historical and cultural art.

Move with the River

Louisiana Children’s Museum

The last gallery, located on the second floor of the campus, will include exhibits centered on the Mississippi River, demonstrating the movement of water from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Port of New Orleans.

The museum new exhibits are designed by Gyroscope, Inc. Even with new exhibits in the works, the Louisiana Children’s Museum plans to reincorporate some of its most popular attractions in the new campus, including the grocery store and bubble workshop.

• Louisiana Children Museum to start construction at City Park location [Curbed NOLA]