Acorns & Updates

Acorns and Updates: Our Recent News

We currently have 16 new and existing museum and theater projects recently opened or in development, representing over $1 billion in community investments. These include major new or expanding museums in Calgary, Providence, Peoria, Hartford, Edmonton, Anaheim, Ottawa, New London, Charlotte and Northwest Arkansas.

TELUS World of Science-Edmonton (Canada)

White Oak Associates has been selected to provide master planning services for the TELUS World of Science-Edmonton’s expansion program in Edmonton, Alberta with subcontractor AldrichPears Associates.

Working under the leadership of CEO George Smith and Project Manager Ian McLennan, the White Oak team will work collaboratively with Cohos Evamy Integratedesign and Kasian Architecture to provide the schematic development for the expansion concept design.

The planned expansion will double the current facility to include an early childhood development centre, a large traveling exhibit gallery, an updated IMAX theatre, a new Digital Visualization Theatre and a special pavilion devoted to Canada’s far north and the circumpolar region.

Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, Canada

White Oak Associates has been laying the groundwork for a Concept Master Plan for the new Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Canada.

Working with Norman Glouberman of the Arcop Group (Montreal), White Oak has been involved in a series of ongoing workshops to collect policy guidance and in-depth discussion with the CSTM’s Strategic Planning Committee. Combined with our knowledge of other museum projects and review of CSTM’s orientation materials, White Oak Associates will be able to make recommendations that fully reflect the institution’s desires, and then, fully integrate them into a Concept Master Plan.

Science Museum of Virginia (Richmond)

The Science Museum of Virginia has engaged White Oak to collaborate with SMV’s Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) to develop a Strategic Master Plan for a reinvented institution under new leadership.

John Jacobsen, Jeanie Stahl and the White Oak team are working with Rich Conti and the SPC committee in a series of workshops and on-line forums. The outcome from these workshops and forums is to develop strategic direction for SMV’s vision for the future as the premier place for families to be empowered by science and as a branded facilitator of informal science learning in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, IL

The Peoria Riverfront Museum succeeded in passing a referendum this April that secures the public funding for this interdisciplinary new museum that will be co-located with the Caterpillar Visitor Center.