Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi has been completed in the United Arab Emirates. Designed by Mecanoo, the 350,000 square foot museum forms part of the city’s expanding network of international cultural destinations. Last year, the firm offered Archinect an insight into the process imagery created for the scheme as part of our series on architectural visualization.
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
The design of the scheme draws inspiration from natural rock formations, with the museum’s form and structure intended to reflect geological processes and the natural environment. Geometry heavily informed the process, with pentagonal forms referencing cellular structures. Water and vegetation are also integrated into the design, highlighting their significance as life-sustaining elements in a desert context.
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Inside, the museum’s exhibits span a 13.8-billion-year journey through time, tracing the history of the universe, Earth, and life, while also addressing contemporary questions around sustainability and the planet’s future. In addition to permanent galleries, the building includes temporary exhibition spaces, theatres, and facilities to support public programming and special events.
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Key exhibits include “Stan,” a 39-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex fossil from the Late Cretaceous Period, recognised as one of the most complete and extensively studied specimens of its kind. The collection also features the Murchison Meteorite, which fell in Australia more than 40 years ago and has contributed to scientific understanding of the early solar system through its preserved organic compounds and pre-solar grains.
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Image credit: Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
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