Darwin Centre, London, by C F Møller Architects

C. F. Møller Architects is one of Scandinavia's oldest and largest architectural practices. Our work involves a wide range of expertise that covers programme analysis, town planning, master planning, all architectural services including landscape architecture, as well as the development and design of building components.
Their second phase of the Darwin Centre is an
extension of the famous Natural History Museum in London, taking the
form of an enormous cocoon in a glass covering. Museum guests will be
able to explore the interior of the cocoon when the extension opens on the 15th of September
2009. The cocoon houses the museum’s unique collection of 17
million insects and 3 million plants, as well as working laboratories
for 220 scientists from all over the world. C. F. Møller Architects was
chosen for the commission in 2001, in competition with 59 other
international architectural firms. The building is the most significant development at the Museum since it moved to South Kensington in 1881.

Anna Maria Indrio, a partner at C. F. Møller Architects, comments: "The second phase of the Darwin Centre takes the form of a large silk cocoon protected by a glass atrium which encloses a fantastic treasure, reflecting evolution itself. The macroscale of the space and the size of the cocoon expresses the enormous importance of the collections. Iconic forms should only be used if the relationship between the building and its interpretation is entirely self-evident, as it is in this case.

The new building completely changes the Natural History Museum's relationship to the site from being an introvert to an extrovert building. It has been incredibly demanding to solve the task of the second phase of the Darwin Centre this way, so I really hope the cocoon will become a major attraction and a trademark of the Darwin Centre in the future."
C. F. Møller Architects' extension to the Natural History Museum in London, the Darwin Centre, has been nominated for one of the world's most coveted architectural awards: the Mies van der Rohe prize 2009.

The firm has 10 major museums under its belt so they are no strangers when it comes to working with museum experts and committees. They designed a huge ovoid shape to encase the exhibitions, finished in glazed plaster – the lines on its surface are actually the marks of a days work of plaster covering! The orthogonal outer casing is made of glass and steel with a roof made of transcluscent ETFE. Actually the new addition is in fact a link between the old building and the existing first stage of the Darwin Centre. The 65m-long cocoon contains five rolling storage levels for specimens and three upper levels for exhibition, storage and laboratory space. A solid block at the north end has more laboratories, offices and a lecture theatre.

The eight-storey glass façade does not have any of the internal strutting one would expect from such a long vertical span. Individual glass
panels spread over the columns spaced every three meters with very thin transoms in
between. The whole space is roofed as mentioned earlier with 3 meter-wide ETFE "tubes"
divided longitudinally into two cells that lie between the steel beams
continuing the spacing of the façade mullions. The actual shell is made of sprayed concrete, lined inside with a final rendering coat of cement. Interior finishes are made of Portland Limestone.