In St. Pölten, a Science and Learning Center housed in the former Wesely House is in planning. The focus will be on communicating current, socially relevant topics through temporary exhibitions. St. Pölten UAS has been commissioned by Living Office Kommunikationsberatungs-GmbH, the owner of the Wesely-Haus, and the city of St. Pölten to develop the content, didactics and (partial) technical concept for this innovative knowledge centre. This will then be transformed into a conclusive, consistent overall concept in terms of content and organisation within the framework of the contract awarded by the City of St. Pölten. The concept was developed in cooperation with the ScienceCenter-Netzwerk association. The participation of the Planetarium Vienna may also be considered. The following contents are based on the concept draft and the recommendations of St Pölten UAS.

Science and Learning Center St. Pölten - Structure and subdivision

The St. Pölten City Library will be located on the ground floor and first floor of the building under the Science Center with various rooms and facilities. A room with interactive exhibits with high-end technologies will be available to be used with different content depending on the exhibition theme and concept. Particular attention will be paid to the ease of use of state-of-the-art technologies in order to address visitors of all ages and previous knowledge and to include them in the didactics of communication. The FabLab invites creative design and development - a place where something new is generated. An additional room is available for communicating the contents of the exhibition. This can be used as a seminar room, for discussion rounds, for preparing the content for school classes, etc. In addition, events can be held on a separate level.

Main topics and how to communicate them

According to the proposals, the Science and Learning Center will regularly present current socially relevant topics (e.g. flight and integration, digitisation, etc.) in the form of temporary exhibitions. In addition to communicating the contents, the aim is to invite critical debate and discussion on the topic presented. The basis for this is, among other things, the illumination of the thematic focal points from different scientific disciplines and thus from different perspectives. Thus the House of the Future St. Pölten offers not only a place for the broad population to inform themselves actively, to learn new things and to acquire knowledge as well as to critically question it. It is also a place of interdisciplinary exchange for various scientific disciplines.

Inclusion of the FH St. Pölten

Employees of the Research and Knowledge Transfer Department and the Institute for Creative\Media/Technologies are responsible for the content, didactics and (media) technical conception of the Science and Learning Center. This requires various work packages. A selection will be briefly sketched: One work package includes the analysis of existing Science Centers and best-practice examples in order to adequately align and structure the House of the Future according to the latest, innovative science communication concepts. In a further step, it will be necessary to work out the thematic and technical priorities and to formulate teaching and learning technologies. The detailed concepts on content, technology and mediation serve as a basis for elaborating the special features and unique selling propositions of the House of the Future and thus for embedding it in the science centre community. At the same time, the advantages and opportunities at regional and national level are to be highlighted.

After its successful installation in the Wesely-Haus, the Science and Learning Center will in future function as a platform for St. Pölten UAS to present scientific content gained within the framework of research projects. At the same time, the thematic temporary exhibitions can play an important role in teaching. By involving students in the design and mediation of the themes, they could also play an active role in the mediation of science.
The installation of the Science and Learning Center once again illustrates the transformation of the city of St. Pölten into an information and knowledge centre.