Civic Trust Award 2011 for the Darwin Centre

The Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum in London, designed by C. F. Møller Architects, has been announced winner of the prestigious 2011 Civic Trust Award. The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise the very best in architecture, design, planning, landscape and public art. Awards are given to projects of the highest quality design, but only if they are judged to have made a positive cultural, social or economic contribution to the local community.

The jury commented on the awarding of the Darwin Centre:
«This stunning modern building is an important new addition to The Natural History Museum, bringing people closer than ever before to the important scientific work it carries out by revealing the scientists at work. The contemporary extension offers visitors greater insight into the full spectrum of the museum’s activities. The ‘Cocoon’ at the centre of the design is a beautiful and mysterious object, captured within a spacious glass atrium and the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity and the Attenborough Studio inspire a new generation of scientists with their amazingly energetic and helpful staff. The new Darwin Centre makes an enormously positive and extremely elegant contribution to communities far beyond South Kensington, and is a fitting building to inspire scientists of every age.»

C. F. Møller Architects was chosen for the commission in 2001, in competition with 59 other international architectural firms. The Darwin Centre was inaugurated in late 2009, and has won a number of awards for its spectacular and unusual architecture.