The Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale opened the reimagined Florida Power & Light Storm Center and completed Build a Better World Friday, giving visitors a chance to step inside a hurricane-force wind simulator and wander through a 7,500-square-foot gallery built around South Florida's coral reefs, mangroves and Everglades wildlife. The gallery's first phase had already introduced its Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Habitats. The openings — Build a Better World: The Future Begins with You and the reimagined Florida Power & Light Storm Center — mark one of the museum's biggest expansions in recent memory, pairing hurricane science with lessons on environmental resilience under a single roof.
Museum staff held a grand-opening ceremony to mark the occasion, according to WSVN, which quoted MODS CEO Joe Cox and FPL's Baldwyn English. Cox said visitors can learn how to help make their community more resilient to environmental impacts, per the station's report. The museum had promoted the exhibits as a dual showcase of ecosystem science and storm preparedness.
Build a Better World is described by the museum as a permanent gallery spanning 7,500 square feet, focused on healthier ecosystems, stronger communities and character traits like caring, cooperation, critical thinking and confidence, according to mods.org. The gallery is built to serve children and families, per the same account, pairing hands-on activities with a broader message about community resilience.
Coral Reefs, Mangroves and an AI Otter Named Lilly
Inside the new gallery, guests can explore Atlantic and Indo-Pacific coral reef habitats, climb through a Mangrove Mangal structure, and meet Lilly, an AI otter featured inside an Everglades Theater, the museum notes on its exhibit page. The space also includes a Solutions Showcase highlighting 3D-printed living seawalls and innovative heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology, the museum's announcement states. Visitors are invited to design a resilient city, work through environmental challenges, and explore environmental careers and local volunteer opportunities as part of the exhibit experience.
The museum says the gallery was made possible by a $2.5 million lead grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. MODS has also launched an EcoExplorers paid internship program that will involve 80 Broward high school students in environmental workforce development, according to the museum's statement. The October 30 opening completed Build a Better World following its first phase.
Inside the Reimagined FPL Storm Center
The Florida Power & Light Storm Center, meanwhile, is built around the science, technology and decision-making involved in understanding and predicting severe-weather impacts, WSVN reports. The reimagined space includes three new experiences — the Command Center, Get Prepared and the Hurricane Simulation Lab — according to the museum. In the Command Center, guests use forecasting tools, weather information, satellite data and drones to assess conditions after a hurricane, per the museum's description.
The Hurricane Simulation Lab lets visitors build their own storm, create clouds and step into a wind simulator to feel hurricane-force gusts, the museum says. A depiction of 7's weather center is also built into the exhibit, letting younger guests envision themselves as 7News meteorologists, WSVN reported. Baldwyn English, who is with Florida Power & Light, said FPL is proud to partner with MODS and plans to extend its commitment to the museum over the next several years to innovate and inspire the next generation, per English's comments to the station.
The museum has described its broader mission as helping communities move from understanding environmental challenges to exploring real-world solutions, according to mods.org. With the Storm Center and Build a Better World now open side by side, MODS is betting that pairing hurricane preparedness with ecosystem science will give Broward County families a fuller picture of the environmental forces shaping South Florida.
