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Polshek had other architectural precedents in mind as well. One of the best known among aficionados of architecture from the Age of Enlightenment is Etienne Louis Boullee's design for a monument to Sir Isaac Newton, in the form of a spherical planetarium. The Rose Center's white aluminum panel-clad sphere also conjures an image from a bit closer to home--the Perisphere from the 1939 New York World's Fair, designed by Wallace K. Harrison.

The forms found in the Rose Center, sphere and cube, are not rendered with the purity that one sees in these two precedents; buildings are messy and complicated things. They require structural support, utilities, and ways of getting in and out. But none of these necessities makes the Rose Center's architecture any less powerful. In fact, the muscular struts that meet the sphere at about its midsection, the spiral ramp that encircles the lower portion of the planetarium, and the triangular trusses that support the nine-story cube of glass all suggest more contemporary, appropriate images: observatories, space stations, nuclear power plants. Science and technology are this cathedral's icons.

Entering the Rose Center even feels like entering a cathedral. From afar one first sees the great glass walls, the sphere within, and only later discerns the way in. It is under a low, graceful arch the radius of which is equal to that of the sphere: forty-three-and-a-half feet. Inside, you are in a low-ceilinged space, a little dark, with a black, polished stone floor. One is immediately captivated by the floor material--a recomposed stone embedded with glass shards. As you move across it, the floor literally twinkles. The experience is like walking across the night sky. From here, there is only a glimpse of the "nave" where you see just the lower portion of the sphere floating above the exhibit hall. But you can't move forward, because there is no readily visible access. So you move down a flight of stairs off to the side and, only then, after emerging from another low-ceilinged space, does the Rose Center explode above your head. Planets float about the sphere as satellites, the bright sun rakes across its surface, and you want to move under it and explore the space beneath this levitating orb.

This lowest level of the Rose Center contains the Cullman Hall of the Universe, which is populated with hands-on, interactive exhibits organized in four zones: stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe. You are free to wander as you may; there is no orchestrated path to view the various exhibits. For most people, especially those with kids, this will be liberating; others may find it disorganized (Where do you start? Did I see that one?). The exhibits themselves, designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates in collaboration with museum scientists, educators, and exhibition designers, is very high-tech, with video screens, buttons, blinking lights, and sound effects. I visited on a bright, sunny afternoon, and the overabundance of daylight made it difficult to see some of the exhibits, especially the floor-mounted video screens . But there is a good variety of things to discover here, and, thankfully, lots of benches where those who do not need to read every word and push every button can comfortably wait for those who do.

After exploring this first level, you begin to understand that the Rose Center is actually designed to be experienced from the top down, instead of from the bottom up. For example, if you ascend the floating staircase from the Hall of the Universe, you arrive at the end of the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway, which actually starts in the Big Bang exhibit, another level up. Escalators nearby will take you there, but first you circulate through the Scales of the Universe exhibit, via a walkway that hugs the glass curtain wall. Here one is treated to a journey through scales from the outer reaches of the universe to the molecular level. This is reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' mind-blowing film, "Powers of Ten," made in 1977. Scales of the Universe is structured in the same way. As you move from one exhibit point to the next, you view a scale frame in diminishing powers of ten. The great sphere is constantly used as a reference point, its role varying with the scale. At one point it represents the sun, while in front of you are models of the Earth and nearby planets. At another extreme, the sphere represents the a rhinovirus, compared to a model of hydrogen atom.

At the end of Scales, one enters the Big Bang exhibit, which is a bit disappointing. You file into a darkened room at the lower level of the sphere, and stand around a circular screen in the floor. The disembodied voice of Jody Foster tells you that the universe erupted from a piece of matter no bigger than a grain of sand, while floor lights flash and the sound system rumbles. The doors then pop open and you are on your way down the 360-foot-long Cosmic Pathway, whose length represents the age of the universe--13 billion years. The problem here is that there is not much to look at while you spiral through the eons: small pictures of distant galaxies, which all looked the same to me. At the end of the ramp is displayed a single strand of human hair, representing the span of recorded human history.

But the ramp is a good way to experience the space of the building, if not the universe, because it offers vantages of the sphere, the lower level exhibits, and, most satisfying, this part of New York, which is all around you through the crystal-clear plate glass walls. This is purported to be the largest suspended glass curtain wall in the United States, made of 736 individual panes of "water white" glass, which has unparalleled clarity due to its low iron content. The glazing is supported by a delicate web of stainless steel rods and "spider" fittings that makes the outside of the wall look like a single sheet of glass.

The crowning exhibit is the 429-seat upper theater of the planetarium itself. Getting in feels like being herded. On the third level, you line up in "Disneyland" serpentine fashion and are loaded, about 15 at a time, into one of three elevators. One floor up, you enter a dark, ethereal room festooned with TV monitors that entertain the waiting crowd with a quiz on the cosmos. A bank of doors opens and you are escorted into the sphere itself, and settle into comfortable seats to enjoy an incredible multimedia journey through the universe, played out on the domed screen above your head. You exit the planetarium across a bridge to a vantage point that affords the visitor's best view of the Rose Center. From here you can casually watch the action on the levels below, a constant panoply of people, lights, planets, sunlight, and sounds. Tilt your head back, gaze through the sparkling glass wall that unveils the city beyond, and, way up in the blue, you may see a jetliner pass miles above--a product of the science and the wonder enshrined around you.

Copyright 2000, Michael J. Crosbie.

Michael J. Crosbie is an architect, author, and professor, who is a contributing editor to ArchitectureWeek.com.

Photos and animations courtesy the American Museum of Natural History

Virtual Tours:

Cosmic Pathway Tour: Look at models of Jupiter and Saturn from Scales of the Universe, then view the beginnings of the universe.

Hall of Planet Earth, Tour 1: Enter the Hall of Planet Earth and view the Plate Tectonics Zone.

Hall of Planet Earth Tour 2: Peer out from beneath the Dynamic Earth Globe (don't forget to look up...)

Hall of the Universe Tour: Start with a view of the Hall of the Universe, situated below the Hayden Sphere and the Cosmic Pathway, then turn to the right or left for a look at the Universe Zone, including the Hoberman Sphere and a simulation of gas entering a black hole.

Planets float about the Rose Center's central sphere as satellites, and the bright sun rakes across its surface. Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin The triangular trusses that support the Rose Center's nine-story cube of glass suggest contemporary images of observatories and space stations. Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin A 39-inch closed glass Ecosphere, or self-sustaining habitat, is featured in the Planet Zone's thematic cluster on the "Search for Life in the Universe." Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin Planets float about the Rose Center's central sphere as satellites, and the bright sun rakes across its surface. Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin The ornate American Museum of Natural History building reflects in the shear glazing of the new Rose Center. Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin The Rose Center for Earth and Space designed by Polshek Partnership Architects. Photo: American Museum of Natural History / D. Finnin New York surrounds visitors through the crystal-clear plate glass walls. Computer rendering: dbox, Inc.