Get a last-chance, behind-the-scenes look at all that went into bringing the Perot Museum of Nature and Science to life – from concept and construction to fruition – at the Building the Building temporary exhibit before it closes Sunday, May 12.

From paleontologists rebuilding prehistoric animals to workers bending steel and pouring concrete, the exhibit explores the building’s history and provides a window into the construction process, encompassing everything from concept to blueprints and prototypes to fabrications.

The exhibit features building models, architectural renderings, exhibit prototypes, videos and even decades-old artifacts that were discovered buried deep underground. The exhibit addresses a variety of questions, from “how many people did it take to build the Perot Museum” to “what is the ‘skin’ of the building made of and how did they make it” to “is the Museum a ‘green building’?”

Housed in the Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall on the Museum’s Lower Level, Building the Building has answered these questions and more with stories of the more than 2,500 people it took to create the building and exhibits. The exhibit includes interviews with Museum leaders, 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne, exhibit designers, landscape designer Coy Talley, Balfour Beatty construction team members, local educators from school districts and universities, and many more. There’s also an interactive area where visitors can use sticky notes to post their comments about the Museum and to suggest collections they’d like to see at the Museum.

“We designed this exhibit to pay tribute to the over 2,500 people who worked so hard to help build the Perot Museum on schedule and on budget,” said Nicole G. Small, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer. “Also, we’ve always said our building is our 13th exhibit hall because it illustrates so many scientific principles – from engineering, physics and architecture, to soil science, acoustics and ecology – so we wanted our visitors to share in those learnings as well.”

To see a time-lapse video of the Museum as it was built from the ground up, click here.

The Building the Building exhibit is free with a general admission ticket.

The Perot Museum is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit here or call 214-428-5555.