London Natural Museum’s ‘Cocoon’ Opens To Public Next Year
Posted on: Wednesday, 3 September 2008, 15:12 CDT
London’s Natural History Museum is set to unveil its new state-of-the-art facility in September 2009.
The 8-story Darwin Center will be home to 20 million plant and insect specimens. Additionally, the center will provide scientific research facilities for up to 200 scientists.
"The Darwin Centre Phase Two will be a landmark new building that will allow visitors to explore the natural world in an exciting and innovative way - truly putting our science on view for the first time,” said Dr. Michael Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum.
"It is the only place in the UK where visitors can interact daily with natural science experts, seeing how the collections are helping us to address issues such as the quality of our air, the causes of disease and the maintenance of delicate ecosystems around the world."
The £78m building, designed by C F Moller Architects, and built by HBG Construction, links the historic Waterhouse building with the existing Darwin Centre Phase One and the museum's gardens.
Visitors will marvel at the collection of specimens housed within the 30cm-thick cocoon wrapped in silk lines, which serves to protect the delicate collections from attack by so-called “museum beetles”.
"If you are an organism who likes to eat dead insects, then the Darwin Centre is the finest restaurant in the world," said Paul Bowers, the museum's public offer project director.
Inside the museum, humidity will remain at 45 percent in order to protect and preserve the specimens.
Phase One, which opened in September 2002, houses the museum's collection of 22 million specimens stored in spirit, including the famous giant squid, affectionately known as Archie.
The new center will serve as a research facility for about 200 scientists from around the world. These scientists will also become part of the attraction for visitors who will get the chance to watch them work through special glass screens.
Mosquito species studied within the museum are helping scientists to develop better controls for malaria, while the forensic identification of crop pests will help to secure global food supplies.
Neil Greenwood, program director, Darwin Centre Phase Two, said: "The museum's botany and entomology specimens are vital for research into disease, climate change and threats to the Earth's biodiversity.
"The controlled conditions within Darwin Centre Phase Two will keep the collections safe for future generations of scientists and visitors."
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Image Caption: From the cocoon's outer walkway you can see the web of panels on its exterior. These panels make it easier to clean and maintain the cocoon surface as well as symbolizing the silk-like threads of a real cocoon in nature. ()
National History Museum
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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