Shanghai’s Natural History Museum is at one with its collection

With a captivating collection of over 10,000 artefacts - including everything from dinosaurs to deep-sea monsters and mummies from the Ming Dynasty - the new home for the Shanghai Natural History Museum, designed by internationally acclaimed practice Perkins+Will, captures the essence of nature through biomimicry.

Previously housed in the former 1920s Shanghai Cotton Exchange, the old museum suffered from space constraints and was able to display just one percent of its entire collection at any given time. In contrast, the generous new structure accommodates six levels of exhibition space and offices, a 30m high entrance lobby and an IMAX cinema, covering a total area of 45,086 sqm.

Inspired by the pure geometry of a spiralling nautilus shell, the building curves elegantly downwards, with the lower three floors dropping below ground level. Enclosed within this 'shell', the serene surface of a centrally placed pond gives way to a series of rocky garden terraces, in the style of a traditional Chinese 'Mountain and Water' garden.

Global Design Director Ralph Johnson headed the project, which lies in the Jing'an Sculpture Park in central downtown Shanghai. 'Through its integration with the site, the building represents the harmony of man and nature and is an abstraction of the basic elements of Chinese art and design,' he says on the concept.

In keeping with the building's nature-inspired approach, each of the four external walls symbolises a separate element of the natural world: the living wall represents forests; the north wall is a rock face relating to Earth's geology and plate tectonics; there is a glazed façade harnessing the power of the sun; whilst the internal lining of the 'shell' displays a beautiful white lattice in a cellular pattern - combining an intricate multilayered glass, concrete and steel construction - which references the complex system of a living organism. 

The spiralling planted rooftop becomes a fifth façade, overlooked by the high-rise apartment blocks which surround the sculpture park. Accessible to visitors, the roof provides a viewing platform over the garden at its heart, and doubles up as a rainwater collection system with storage in the courtyard pond.

Sustainable design solutions (such as greywater recycling and a geothermal energy system) are displayed as part of the exhibition and reveal the story of the museum, explaining the benefits of environmental strategies.The abundance of natural references throughout ensure that the museum's architecture becomes as much a part of the exhibit as the collection it hosts.