The quirky-looking building looks capable of hatching the mother of all spiders, but houses a new exhibition that lets visitors interact with scientists working on museum collections
New cocoon
The Natural History Museum‘s new £78-million Darwin Centre is 65 metres, or 8 storeys, high.
It houses over 200 scientists at one time, as well as public galleries, 17 million insect specimens and three million plant specimens.
(Image: NHM)
Different perspective
The 40 exhibits inside the cocoon help visitors understand how museum specimens are collected and maintained – and how they still underpin cutting-edge biological research.
(Image: Torben Eskerod / NHM)
Behind glass
Visitors can see scientists working in the labs alongside the galleries.
The scientists’ workspace is projected onto a large screen, and visitors can talk to the researchers using an intercom.
(Image: NHM)
Botany move
Curators had to carefully move 3 million plant specimens into climate-controlled stores inside the new building.
(Image: NHM)
Old and new
The new building sits alongside the Natural History Museum’s iconic Waterhouse Building, which dates from 1881.
Explore an interactive, high-res photo of part of the Waterhouse building’s entrance to see the biological designs carved into its stonework.
(Image: Torben Eskerod)
