An educational group looking to acquire an art museum in Aspen, Colorado, US, wants to transform it into a new not-for-profit science centre.

The Aspen Science Center has put on community programming for the last five years and is seeking to make science more accessible and to find a permanent home in the Old Power House building currently occupied by Aspen Art Museum.

Aspen City Council last month began a public consultation about what should happen to the building when the art museum leaves, with the Science Centre proposal likely to figure large in those discussions.

Should it be selected to lease the property, the Science Centre will fill the 7,200sq ft (668sq m) area with a rotating exhibition space, a kitchen area for classes blending science and cooking, a coffee kiosk, a science classroom space with sinks and bunsen burners, plus a workshop for using electronics.

The Science Center estimates the new building would come with about a US$300,000 (£183,000, €219,000) annual operating budget, plus US$3m (£1.8m, €2.2m) in start-up costs.

Aspen Art Museum has plans to move to a much larger facility, with the new exhibition space due to open 9 August, 2014.