Stans Museum of Life and the Environment

A New “Web of Life” Lens on People and Place

Stans Museum of Life and the Environment (MLE) will be an entirely new kind of institution – simultaneously a museum of natural history and human cultural history. To be located on the Catawba River at Interstate 77, the facility and its programs will tell the story of humans without separating them from their natural environment. People will be an integral part of a single story, an explanation of life that encompasses all relationships – human to human, human to plants and animals and all living things to the planet.

Common Ground Exhibit

Stans Museum of Life and the Environment will explore themes based on the emerging fields of environmental history and sustainability.

Common Ground

Its core exhibition called Common Ground (for planning purposes) will employ a new “web of life lens” for visitors to explore the relationships between people and place in the past, present and future. It will highlight growing collections of Carolina Piedmont artifacts and specimens while exploring the story of the Museum’s home region from the eve of human contact through visions of what could come.
The core exhibition will also provide a dramatic new setting for CHM’s distinguished collection of African mammals and cultural artifacts. The story of people and place begins in Africa. The first humans evolved there, and it is the only continent where many species of large mammals co-exist with people. Participation in the Smithsonian Institution’s Affiliation program will provide CHM with resources to focus the “web of life lens” on other regions of the globe. Click here for a preview of preliminary concepts for the Stans Museum of Life and the Environment visitor experience (PDF format).

Interactive Elements

The Museum will employ hands-on interactive devices and contemporary information technology, as well as traditional museum components such as dioramas and displays of objects and artifacts to make its learning opportunities accessible for all ages.

Community Facilities

It will include state-of-the-art facilities for lectures, symposia and town hall-style meetings, special events, openings and celebrations – all endeavors giving voice to the many perspectives that have shaped the region’s history.

Stans Museum of Life and the Environment will serve as an important destination and cultural resource for the region with exciting potential to become a national and international center lifelong learning. It will be surrounded by a Sustainable Community to complement its design and reinforce its core themes, serving as a model for economic and ecological balance for individuals and developers alike. Stans Museum of Life and the Environment's programs will be complemented by its companion Center for a Sustaining Future that will promote dialogue and inquiry into the critical issues of our time related to ecology, environmentalism and sustainability.

Design & Visionary Team

To make the new museum a reality, CHM has assembled a team of environmental visionaries and designers. William McDonough, Ralph Appelbaum and Susan Nelson/ Warren Byrd have completed preliminary concepts for the Museum to be built on 400 acres of land donated by Jane Spratt McColl and her husband Hugh, former chairman of Bank of America.

To learn about how you can support the development of Stans Museum of Life and the Environment please click here>>

For upcoming Site Tours, please click here>>

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Downloads
> MLE Concepts (.pdf)
> Campaign Brochure (.pdf) 1MB

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