The Natural History Museum of Darwin Centre in London

An impressive modern architectural work has brilliantly expanded one of the most popular and visited museums in the world, the Natural History Museum of London, whose landmark brick building built in 1881 proudly represents the traditional architecture of Victorian London. The Darwin Center, designed by CF Møller Architects, has opened its doors on September 15.

Neil Greenwood, director of the Darwin Center has said about the play “A lot of people love the Natural History Museum, its symbolic Victorian building. From the Darwin Centre wish to extend this traditional perception and also commend the work of our scientists and the importance of our collections. ” Like the rest of the museum’s new Darwin Center plays three important roles: to safeguard the millions of species of the collection, provide modern facilities for the renowned research scientists working at the museum, and create an environment that inspires the thousands of People who visit each year.
Danish architects CF Møller Architects, which won the project competitive in 2001, have designed a large urn of glass and steel of 16,000 m2 attached to the old building, which contains inside a huge structure in the form of egg, the Cocoon. With great symbolism, the egg as a source of life and nature, this gigantic structure promises to be a great icon for the Museum of Natural History. The lightness of the glass box that contains it helps to enhance the splendor of the huge oval structure, on which shadows are projected dramatic west façade enhanced even more if possible its spectacular curved shape. Its scale is such that the Cocoon can not be viewed in its entirety from nowhere, the architects intended effect to emphasize its immeasurable size. Its shape and size give the visitor a tangible idea of the volume of the collections it contains.
The total project cost of the new Darwin Center is 78 million pounds, and 280 people worked in construction for 25 months. With 3,500 m2 distributed over 8 floors, 60 m long, 12 m wide and 30 cm thick, the egg is massive curved concrete structure injected largest in Europe. Protect 17 million animal and plant species 3 million, at more than 3 miles from windows maintained at a constant temperature of 17 º C and a relative humidity of 45%.
As it could not be otherwise, the expansion of the Museum of Natural History has been designed taking into account environmental and sustainability criteria, including those criteria, the thermal insulation system for collections as well as the innovative lighting system, high energy efficiency.