South Carolina’s Roper Mountain Science Center is to launch a fundraising campaign as it seeks to secure US$14m (€12.26m, £11.05m) to construct a new environmental science and sustainability facility.

Located in Greenville, SC, Roper Mountain is a community resource and a national leader for science education, drawing up to 600 school students every day during school terms for high-quality "learning labs".

Speaking to the Greenville Journal, director Michael Weeks outlined the plans for the new facility, saying it will provide a "unique and immersive educational experience that fosters exploration and stewardship of natural resources".

"It will enable visitors of all ages to engage in hands-on learning about personal and global sustainability and encourage their commitment to creating solutions to the challenges arising from human interaction with the environment," he said.

The two-story facility will have approximately 28,000 square feet of space (8,534 sq/m), with flexible teaching areas, open-concept exhibits and new amenities, such as a 200-seat dining space. Two companies are helping to finalise conceptual designs for the facility: Craig Gaulden Davis, a Greenville-based architecture firm; and Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership of New York.

Among the plans for the site are a 2,200sq ft (670sq m) museum exhibit called Sustainable Future, which will feature a series of interconnected stations highlighting how decisions regarding energy, food, water, waste, transportation and clothing "influence the future of our community and world".

There will also be a 2,000sq ft (609sq m) Water Story exhibit, highlighting the processes of the water cycle and the importance of Greenville’s own watershed.

Although US$10m (€8.75m, £7.89m) of the US$14m required to complete the project will come through the Greenville County School District’s Long Range Facilities Plan and Capital Improvement Programme, the balance must be raised elsewhere, and Roper Mountain is to launch a fundraising campaign for that purpose in the coming months.

The new facility could serve an estimated 20,000 additional students each year within three years of completion, said Weeks, and also result in a 25 per cent increase in public participation at the science centre through events and expanded access. It is tentatively scheduled to open towards the end of 2020.