Natural History Museum of Utah
![Museum located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains’ Wasatch Range.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gMJaXtfrVRC3DUUNkBBCzW-415-80.jpg)
'A trailhead to the region and a trailhead to science' is how New York-based Ennead Architects characterises the firm's new Natural History Museum of Utah, on the rugged edge of Salt Lake City.
It's a spot-on formulation: the $103 million, 163,000 sq ft Rio Tinto Center, as the building is called, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range, restates the stark beauty of the region's topography - 'which is like no other in the world,' says architect Todd Schliemann, who toured the state extensively before picking up his pen. With an aesthetic language of rugged elegance, the museum provides research and exhibition space, as well as – crucially – locating visitors within the natural world, and facilitating observation of it.
The structure, perched above what had been the shoreline of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville, steps down the site, its ledges riding the slope discreetly while also exerting a commanding tectonic presence. The design's organic properties, which draw upon the elemental natural landscape, are effectively reinforced by Schliemann's material palette: a board-formed concrete base, and some 42,000 sq ft of standing-seam copper paneling, a skin applied in horizontal bands expressive of stratified, mineral-rich mountain rock.
Inside the building, the design centres around a spatial coup de theatre called 'the Canyon', a 60-ft-high atrium space, flooded with sunlight and bridged by circulation walkways. The poured-in-place concrete and polished plaster forms are evocative of the enveloping – and not a little intimidating – grandeur of the natural enclosures found throughout Utah's Great Basin.
In addition to separating the museum's 'empirical' north wing (devoted to research and conservation, administration, and storage of over 1.2 million objects and specimens) and 'interpretive' south side (filled with exhibition space), the Canyon serves, says Schliemann, as a social space. 'You can have a concert, a conference, a party, or get married there. In that regard,' he adds – only partly in jest – 'the building can generate its own "natural history."'
The structure, perched above what had been the shoreline of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville, steps down the site, its ledges riding the slope discreetly while also exerting a commanding tectonic presence
With an aesthetic language of rugged elegance, the museum provides research and exhibition space, as well as - crucially - locating visitors within the natural world, and facilitating observation of it
Inside the building, the design centres around a spatial coup de theatre called ’the Canyon’, a 60-ft-high atrium space, flooded with sunlight and bridged by circulation walkways
The poured-in-place concrete and polished plaster forms are evocative of the enveloping - and not a little intimidating - grandeur of the natural enclosures found throughout Utah’s Great Basin
In addition to separating the museum’s ’empirical’ north wing (devoted to research and conservation, administration, and storage of over 1.2 million objects and specimens) and ’interpretive’ south side (filled with galleries and exhibition spaces), the Canyon serves, says Schliemann, as a social space
The museum building essentially restates the stark beauty of the region's topography - 'which is like no other in the world,' says project architect Todd Schliemann
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published