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NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY WEST COURT FACILITY

The objective of this project is to develop, within the existing West Court of the Natural History Museum, new and expanded restaurant and Museum Shops facilities, to create a 500-seat wide-screen theater for showing natural history and cultural films appropriate to the Museum's educational mission, to create a new education facility, and to provide ancillary spaces to support these objectives. The combined total of new and reconstructed space is approximately 72,000 square feet. 

At present, the Natural History Museum has inadequate public service facilities to serve its 6 million-plus visitors annually. In 1985, the Museum Shops director recommended an expansion of the Museum's main shop, which had at that time, and continues to have, inadequate shop and storage areas of only approximately 4,000 square feet. Sales volume indicated that a significant expansion was in order, since the per-square-foot sales figures exceed the "high-end volume" of typical retail stores by a factor approaching 10.

In addition, the restaurant facilities were also considered inadequate and outdated, and certain other design features of the West Court space generally created significant visitor inconvenience, including the locations and size of existing visitor rest rooms. 

When the renovation of the West Court was initially proposed, the Natural History Museum gave thoughtful consideration to simultaneously creating a large-scale theater, similar to the one at the Air and Space Museum, and concluded that such a theater would significantly enhance visitors' educational experience and also enhance revenues, which in turn could be used for other educational and visitor-related programs and projects, including the exhibition program.

In brief, several architectural concept studies were conducted since the idea was first proposed, but the project was never completed for a variety of economic and institutional-priority reasons. The need for a new facility, however, has not diminished, and in fact has grown more urgent as the Museum continues to achieve consistently high visitation and the Institution faces diminishing trust revenues. 

A recently completed new architectural study for the West Court and feasibility study for the theater asserts the viability of this aspect of the project, and previous studies conducted by the Business Management Office have also concluded in favor of the proposed expansion plans. The Museum wishes to move forward quickly with the proposed new facility. A careful study of the architectural concept/feasibility study needs to be conducted by the Smithsonian management for further information and details

The costs for construction, equipment, and start-up are estimated to total $20 million. This funding will be raised totally from private sources, and several financial alternatives are under consideration. Operational costs for concessions will be self-supporting. According to the most conservative estimates, income will clearly cover both operational costs and any payments to retire loans or pay back on other financial arrangements. Some additional Federal funds (beyond those currently provided for the existing West Court facility) may be required for security, utilities, and maintenance, and, to