The best advice I can give is to get in touch with people who are in the planetarium business. I am a novice in the field and can give some advice -- in my spare time I run a small planetarium in a "2-yr college in a rural area in a conservative state".
There are several regional planetarium associations in the US. If you are in the western half of the US, I would encourage you to get in touch with the "Western Alliance" (http://www.wacdomes.org/). There is also a Southeast Planetarium Association (http://www.sepadomes.org/) that might cover your area. They each have a conferences every year, and I learned a lot by attending. The people are friendly and helpful. It is often a case of learning things you didn't even know you should be thinking about.
Tim Folkerts
folkertst@bartonccc.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of Larry Smith
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 4:43 PM
To: phys-l@www.phys-l.org
Subject: [Phys-L] planetarium design
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give input on the design and architecture of our new science building that the legislature just approved funding for. We are a 2-yr college in a rural area in a conservative state, but we have about 5,000 students and we are consistently growing.
I’m lobbying for the inclusion of a permanent planetarium (we currently have an inflatable Discover Dome), and I think that will happen. I’m meeting with the architects soon to discuss the design of the planetarium. I’m thinking of a 30-seat room with the seats all facing one direction (rather than a classroom-in-the-round) so it can be used as a regular classroom most hours of the day. Consequently, I anticipate the dome will not be symmetric around the zenith but that dome will be more toward the front of the room.
What advice do you have? Mistakes to avoid? Must haves? URLs about planetarium design?
We anticipate using it for community outreach and school groups as well as our own astronomy classes. But it will be used as a regular classroom during most of the day.