Location: New York, United States.

Architect: Studio Gang.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has unveiled its latest addition, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The centre will offer new ways to learn about science and share in the excitement of scientific discovery. The design for the Gilder Center reclaims the physical heart of the museum and completes connections between existing galleries that were originally envisioned in the museum’s 19th-century master plan. The Central Exhibition Hall, which will serve as the Museum’s new Columbus Avenue entrance, will form a continuous, flowing spatial experience along an east-west axis. The Gilder Center will include the five-story Collections Core, housing millions of specimens and artifacts from the Museum’s world-class collection; the immersive Invisible Worlds Theater; the Museum Library, one of the most extensive and important natural history libraries in the world; a 6,210-sf Insectarium, showcasing specimens from the Museum’s insect collection—one of the world’s largest—as well as live insects; a 3,152-sf Butterfly Vivarium, a year-round living exhibit that offers a variety of opportunities for visitors to observe and learn about butterflies; and Learning Zones and classrooms that enhance STEM teaching and learning. The design of the centre was informed by processes found in nature, such as the study of glaciers, canyons, and riverbeds, and experiments exploring how heat, erosion, and dissolution affect materials like ice, foam, and wood. The centre will target LEED Gold certification.