$60M Faith & Liberty Discovery Center coming to Independence Mall in 2018

A $60 million interactive exhibit called the Faith & Liberty Discovery Center is coming to Independence Mall in 2018.

American Bible Society, who moved from New York to Philly in 2015, made the announcement Wednesday morning with Mayor Jim Kenney, who said that the exhibit will help tell an overlooked story of Philly’s history.

So what exactly should we expect with the multi-million dollar project at 101 North Independence Mall? The jist of the the Faith & Liberty Discovery Center will highlight how the bible has changed those who changed America (think the founding fathers, abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists, etc.).

The design of the multi-million dollar exhibit is being spearheaded by the firm Local Projects, which perhaps is best-known for its work on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. While concrete details are lacking, we do know that it will be a very interactive, technology-driven exhibit.

Local firm SaylorGregg, a studio of JacobsWyper Architects, which led the recent Franklin Institute renovations, is leading the architectural design. Renderings haven’t been released yet, but it sounds like we can expect the entrance to the Faith & Liberty Discovery Center to be a bit more eye-catching and welcoming than the current state.

That’s according to a video previewing the project, in which architect Jamie Wyper of JacobsWyper Architects, one of the design’s main goals is to make the exhibit attractive from the streetscape.

The Faith & Liberty Discovery Center is expected to open in fall 2018.

• Faith & Liberty Discovery Center [Official]