Shenzhen Natural History Museum: the story behind the design

undulating forms of the Shenzhen Natural History Museum by 3XN, B+H Architects and Zhubo Design in a green park — (Image credit: Adam Mørk)

Southeast China's newest attraction, the Shenzhen Natural History Museum, lies elegantly nestled among leafy mounds and winding pathways. The building is a mesmerising volume that appears to gently undulate in the breeze in its green park on the southern edge of the Pearl River Delta.

The design, created by the 3XN–B+H Architects–Zhubo Design Consortium (a group with Danish studio 3XN as lead designer and B+H Architects serving as lead consultant, executive architect, and landscape architect), was crafted to reflect just that - the region's rich biodiversity, making its striking figure as much of an attraction as its expansive, 100,000 square metres of exhibition and other visitor spaces.

This part of the world, known as China's Pingshan District, features a subtropical monsoon climate. This produces a layered environment where nature thrives, and, especially given its subject matter, the design tapped into exactly this wealth to define the museum's final form.

'Nothing in nature is square. Nature is amorphous, dynamic, and always in formation. From the beginning, the ambition was to create not a building, but a piece of landscape that had always been there - shaped by local geology, water and time. That idea has been carried all the way from the competition stage to the museum that stands there today, a place where the story of our planet is experienced as a physical journey through terrain, light and space,' says Kim Herforth Nielsen, founder, senior partner and creative director at 3XN.

The design addresses the museum as a destination and space for exhibits, but also as a significant civic landscape, 'shaped by the same forces of erosion that define the site’s two ecological systems,' the Yanzi Hill and the Pingshan River. Beyond the important conceptual grounding of the scheme, this also translates into physical space: the museum's entire roof is accessible as a public park and free for visitors to stroll in and enjoy.

Meanwhile, the curvy façade, clad in granite and lamella shingle-like elements, was chosen to resemble the appearance of a cliff, emerging from the water underneath this walkable rooftop park. Up there, five thematic zones span a variety of plant species, some rare and many native, tropical planting from the broader region, and species specifically featured in Chinese literature.

Parametric architectural programmes and advanced digital models checked against on-site scans for coordination with the existing topography were essential in developing this forward-thinking, complex design. This blend of technology and nature that the museum's process and final form represent also reflects Shenzhen's own journey - a city that experienced tremendous growth into becoming China's tech capital. It is now again evolving with projects such as this, shifting towards culture and nature.

'Shenzhen is one of the world’s most dynamic urban centres, but it is also a city of exceptional ecological richness, shaped by its mangroves, wetlands, mountains and coastal habitats. Shenzhen Natural History Museum responds to that dual character. Our role was to carry that ambition through from concept to delivery, ensuring that the museum’s flowing form, roofscape and public spaces make the city’s relationship with nature visible at every scale,' says David Stavros, senior design principal and former executive vice president for Asia at B+H Architects.

Wing Cen Yingyin, senior Landscape Designer at B+H Architects adds: 'Shenzhen is often understood through the speed of its urban growth, but its natural history is equally compelling. It is a city where mountains, rivers, wetlands and the South China Sea exist in close proximity to one of the world’s most dynamic urban environments. This is an important story to tell and from the beginning, we wanted the landscape to become part of the experience of the museum itself.'

'The roof park, arrival spaces and routes to the wetland extend the visitor journey beyond the galleries, inviting people to encounter planting, water, views and changing seasons as part of the museum’s story of nature.'

3xn.com

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).