NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

“The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.” Albert Einstein

Located on the eastern coast of Zealand, the largest island of the Danish archipelago, the city of Copenhagen is surrounded by the fortifications, moats and defensive walls that have encircled it since the 12th and 17th century, but this history has been transformed into a friendly network of gardens and lakes.

In one of these gardens, overlooking a lake, a variety of buildings today constitute the Natural History Museum of Denmark. In 2009, an international competition was launched for the design of an extension of the museum complex, with the ambition to link the different constituent wings, and celebrate the growth of this complex. The architecture of the project is inspired by the history of the capital. An underground quarry-like building connects the two main pavilions. Above, discreetly sitting within the gardens, constellations of glistening skylights recreate the historical moat through their reflective presence and poetic trace.