La Nube Discovery Center

La Nube is an exciting new addition to El Paso's skyline, opening to the public August 2024. Situated at the borders of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, the museum celebrates its multinational and multilingual community through its interactive exhibits, local artist contributions, and event spaces. The structure's playful shape distinguishes it amidst the cityscape: its first two floors are all glass, inviting passersby into its generous public lobby, while overhead at the roofline, a series of barrel vaults form a whimsical cloud-like silhouette. The building is immediately recognizable within the skyline as a home to and celebration of children's education.

Inside, 30,000 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibits, designed by exhibit designers, Gyroscope, soar and intertwine with the architecture, presenting STEAM educational topics to the museum's young visitors through immersive new worlds. The geometries of the roofline trace themselves throughout the building via wall and floor graphics, creating a spatial puzzle of shapes and equations for students to follow. In this way, the architecture itself becomes a didactic tool in the educational experience.

Outside, 10,000 square feet of landscape and play spaces invite hands-on learning in a natural context. Kids can familiarize themselves with native plant species while scrambling on boulders from the adjacent Franklin Mountains and feeling the cooling effects of misting poles within the dry desert climate.

The architecture of La Nube serves as a civic classroom and celebrates explorative play for all of its visitors.