Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Exterior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
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https://www.archdaily.com/1036303/mecanoos-natural-history-museum-opens-in-abu-dhabis-saadiyat-cultural-district
Back in April 2022, Abu Dhabi unveiled the first images of a new Natural History Museum designed by the Dutch practice Mecanoo. Three years later, on November 22, 2025, the museum opened its doors to the public, presenting 13.8 billion years of science and discovery with a special focus on the Arabian region. Covering more than 35,000 sqm, the design is intended to resonate with natural rock formations. Geometry acts as the unifying theme, with pentagonal shapes referencing cellular structures. Water and vegetation, symbols of life in the desert, also play an important role in the design. Located in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District, the building houses rare meteorites, dinosaur fossils, and reconstructions of the region’s prehistoric landscapes, combining natural history, storytelling, and immersive environments. Through interactive exhibitions, special events, and community-science programmes, the museum seeks to encourage audiences of all ages to engage with the natural world.
Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Exterior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu DhabiThe Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi presents the story of life on Earth through an Arabian lens. Its narrative spans the origins of the universe and the evolution of life, while the institution positions itself as a global hub for research in palaeontology, biodiversity, and earth sciences. The building includes onsite facilities dedicated to scientific study, including two laboratories: the Palaeo Lab, where visitors can observe fossil preparation and research, and the Life Sciences Lab, where specimens are collected and analysed to understand species adaptations, behaviours, and ecological relationships. The museum has also committed to ongoing public programming, educational workshops, and community-led initiatives designed to broaden access to natural history.
Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Exterior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Exterior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
The museum’s architectural expression draws from architect Nuno Fontarra’s memories of tidal rocks in Porto, Portugal. Mecanoo translated this reference into the Abu Dhabi context, where the wadi carries a similar sense of movement and discovery. Interpreted not only as a seasonal riverbed but as a natural structure shaping life in the desert, the wadi informed the concept of the museum as a rock formation along an urban wadi, situated between land and sea. The architecture incorporates extensive public space, with circulation routes that allow visitors to move freely between the building’s volumes and explore the site’s waterfront. The structure’s modularity enables future expansion, echoing the gradual growth of cellular systems. Hanging gardens are intended to allow the museum to evolve with time, blending the building and its landscape. The facility also integrates advanced climate-control and air-quality systems to protect visitors and collections by regulating temperature, humidity, and particulate levels.
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The museum displays around 2,600 specimens selected from a collection of approximately 7,000. Among its highlights are two world-firsts: a pair of Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons exhibited together, and a group of five large sauropod dinosaurs installed in the atrium. Further inside, another world-first display shows two T. rexes locked in a dynamic scene over a Triceratops carcass. The exhibition features “Stan,” the 67-million-year-old T. rex regarded as one of the most complete examples ever discovered, along with visible fossil evidence of ancient bite marks on the Triceratops. Other galleries explore the natural history of the UAE and the wider region, taking visitors back seven million years to a greener, savannah-like environment inhabited by now-extinct species, including a four-tusked giant elephant, also on display.
Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons. Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Interior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu DhabiNatural History Museum Abu Dhabi is a place where knowledge meets wonder. The museum offers a different perspective of the story of life on Earth, framed for the first time through an Arabian lens. Bringing a new dimension to our cultural story, we are building institutions that inspire curiosity, foster learning, and connect us to the bigger questions about our world and our future, while reinforcing our conviction in culture as a strategic force for shared progress. Understanding our planet’s past helps us protect its future, and that is the foundation of what we have built here. – H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi
Blue Whale Skeleton (Balaenoptera musculus). Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo. Interior photograph. Image Courtesy of Natural History Museum Abu DhabiTickets to the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi are now available online at nhmad.ae. The museum joins a growing network of cultural and research institutions on Saadiyat Island, including Louvre Abu Dhabi, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, and the upcoming Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Other recent cultural-building announcements include the launch of Lawh Wa Qalam: M. F. Husain Museum, a new addition to Qatar’s cultural landscape dedicated to the life and work of Maqbool Fida Husain; the confirmed opening date of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park, designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with landscape architecture by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA; and two opera house competition winners: BIG’s design for the Hamburg State Opera and Snøhetta’s design for the Düsseldorf Opera House.