New Kids Town construction at the Orlando Science Center.

For the past several months [ have been going to the Orlando Science Center (777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803) once a week, to sketch the five million dollar construction of the New Kids Town. A company in Ohio designed all the interactive exhibits. Seven rooms were constructed to house the huge play areas. The first area under construction consisted of a maze of green metal support rods. The inner skeleton was still visible. Each support beam was numbered and a large architects drawing was consulted to see which beam went where.

A Genie lift was used to get up high or some times to suport a horizontal beam before it was secured. Workers climbed ladders and walked the beams like tightrope walkers. I was issued a hard hat and it came in useful since I had to duck to avoid a beam being lifted into place. Above me, a worker was sparkling wall joints a the supervisor advised me to move aside for a while. I took his advice because he had my safety in mind.

Workers looked over my shoulder, to see if they had been caught in the sketch. One worker told me about a friend of his who made decent money doing tattoos. Perhaps I’ve missed my calling. I could imagine this Climb Time area will be very popular once the kids get a chance to explore it.