Natural Science Museum: The Latest Architecture and News

Finnish office Sigge Architects has been announced as the winner of the international competition for the design of the Museum of History and the Future in Finland's oldest city, Turku. The proposal, selected out of over 400 entries, creates a permeable structure along the waterfront, acting as a catalyst for the regeneration of the area. The museum aims to showcase the most innovative scientific research through a wide variety of exhibitions, audio-visual installations, and educational spaces. Construction is expected to start in 2027 and be completed by 2029, with a public opening scheduled for 2030.

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Following an international competition, MVRDV has been selected to lead the design of the Hangzhou Oil Refinery Factory Park, an extensive project aiming to transform the former industrial district into a cultural center set in a green environment. Complete with a new art and science museum, offices, retail, and a wide variety of cultural offerings, the redevelopment demonstrates a way forward from an oil-based infrastructure to more sustainable alternatives, while retaining the memory of the past technologies. The park sits alongside the southern end of China’s Grand Canal, the world’s longest and one of the oldest man-made waterways created to strengthen economic connections between the south and the north of the country.

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3XN, B+H, and Zhubo Design were selected as first-place winners in an international design competition for the new Shenzhen Natural History Museum. Attracting over 70 proposals from around the world, the contest first nominated fifteen teams for the bidding stage, representing 18 countries, before choosing the best proposal.

The winners of the international competition to design Berlin's new Natural Science Museum have been announced. The brief, which called for a large scale iconic building in the heart of the German capital, offered the opportunity for architects and students to design in a city founded in the 13th century.

Understanding that natural science museums are often simply seen as places for public spectacle, the organization behind the competition wanted to ensure that the "importance of the museum's specimen collections for documenting historical and present-day patterns of biological diversity cannot be overstated."

See the winning entry, along with the runners up, after the break.