World Forestry Center is thrilled to announce that our Discovery Museum will reopen to the public in the summer of 2022. Located in Portland’s forested Washington Park directly off the MAX Light Rail, our 20,000 square foot Discovery Museum has been the cornerstone of our public programming since it opened in 1971.
“The hands-on, high-touch nature of our Museum made it challenging to reopen since we closed in March 2020,” said Executive Director Joe Furia, “but we’ve used this time to improve the visitor experience, and we’re finally at a place where we feel ready to welcome back guests.”
Built in dramatic Northwest Regional style architecture by the famed architect John Storrs, the building itself has been a Portland landmark for decades. Inside, visitors will encounter familiar favorites as well as a selection of new exhibits and features.
“We wanted to reopen the Museum with some refreshed content,” said Experience Director Tim Hecox. “We’ll have an incredible art installation on wildfire and a new temporary exhibit on the future of World Forestry Center.”
A Pop-Up Community Engagement Exhibit
The Discovery Museum reopening is an opportunity to engage our community and partners in future planning for the organization. To that end, World Forestry Center is working with Upswell, a Portland-based experience design firm, on a temporary community engagement exhibit.
This pop-up exhibit hopes to facilitate conversations around the urgent challenges facing forests and society, gather insights and information about our visitors, and increase the relevance of future experiences and programming.