Location: Shanghai, China.

Architect: Perkins+Will.

Perkins+Will has designed a new natural history museum in Shanghai, which replaces the original Natural History Museum and offers 20 times more exhibition space. The 44,517 sq m museum features more than 10,000 artefacts from all seven continents, as well as an outdoor exhibit garden, a 4D theatre and a 30-metre tall atrium. The building is bioclimatic, responding to the sun by using an intelligent building skin that maximises daylight and minimises solar gain. The oval courtyard pond provides evaporative cooling, while the temperature of the building is regulated with a geothermal system that uses energy from the earth for heating and cooling. Rain water is collected from the vegetated roof and stored in the pond along with recycled grey water. The overall shape and building organisation was inspired by the nautilus shell, one of the purest geometric forms found in nature. Natural elements are depicted across the building’s façades including the central cell wall representing the cellular structure of plants and animals, the east living wall signifying earth’s vegetation, and the northern stone wall suggesting shifting tectonic plates and canyon walls eroded by rivers. The museum is in the Jing An District, in the centre of downtown Shanghai, and within the Jing An Sculpture Park. Perkins+Will’s portfolio includes projects for some of the world’s most respected cultural institutions.

Photo credit: James and Connor Steinkamp.