American Museum of Natural History

Featuring breathtaking architecture inspired by natural Earth processes, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is a spectacular new facility of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The building, designed by Studio Gang, the international architecture and urban design practice led by Jeanne Gang, invites exploration of the fascinating, far- reaching relationships among species that comprise life on Earth and reveals connections across the Museum’s rich collections, trailblazing research initiatives, educational programs, and exhibition galleries.

The Gilder Center will feature an immersive experience that reveals the natural world through spectacular visualizations of scientific data, an insectarium dedicated to the most diverse group of animals on Earth, a permanent butterfly vivarium, a redesigned library, state- of-the-art classrooms, and more.

KEY BUILDING COMPONENTS

The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation will include:
• the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, a soaring, four-story-high civic space that serves as a new gateway into the Museum from Columbus Avenue
• the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, a dynamic hub that connects visitors with the Museum Library’s unparalleled resources
• The five-story Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, featuring three stories of floor-to-ceiling exhibits representing every area of the Museum’s collections in vertebrate and invertebrate biology, paleontology, geology, anthropology, and archaeology, from fossil tracks to trilobites, and antlers to pottery. The collections and exhibits on the first and second floors of the Collections Core are supported by the Macaulay Family Foundation
• the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, the first Museum gallery in more than 50 years dedicated to the most diverse—and a critically important—group of animals on Earth
• the new, year-round Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, a permanent exhibit where visitors can mingle with up to 80 species of free-flying butterflies—and sometimes experience one landing on them
• Invisible Worlds, an immersive 360-degree science-and-art experience that offers a breathtakingly beautiful and imaginative yet scientifically rigorous window into the networks of life at all scales
• and new state-of-the-art education classrooms within zones for Middle School Learning, supported by Josh and Judy Weston; High School Learning, and College and Career Readiness, with adjacent renovated and repurposed spaces in the existing Museum complex creating the Michael Vlock Family Learning Zone and a zone for Teacher Learning

DESIGN ELEMENTS & MATERIALS

Studio Gang’s design for the Gilder Center creates approximately 30 connections among 10 existing buildings, creating a continuous campus across four city blocks as envisioned more than 150 years ago. The main floor of the Gilder Center opens onto Theodore Roosevelt Park, creating a seamless visitor path to Central Park West, inviting visitors to explore all that the Museum has to offer.

Once inside the Gilder Center, visitors find themselves in the Griffin Atrium, a soaring space with bridges and openings that connect visitors, physically and visually, to multiple levels of new exhibition galleries, education spaces, and collections facilities within, imparting a sense of discovery to the building. This space, like much of the Gilder Center, is formed by spraying structural concrete directly onto rebar without formwork to create fluid walls, bridges, and openings. This technique, known as “shotcrete,” was invented by Museum naturalist and taxidermy artist Carl Akeley. Once cured, it is finished by hand, demonstrating the fluid quality of the material.

The Gilder Center’s Columbus Avenue façade will be clad in Milford pink granite—the same stone used for the Museum’s entrance on Central Park West—linking the two sides of the Museum’s campus. The stone is organized into three-dimensional panels that together create an undulating façade. Their diagonal pattern evokes both geological layering and the richly textured and coursing surface of the stone masonry on the 77th Street side of the Museum.

The rear (east-facing) elevation is informed by the adjacent Museum buildings and features a high, central window that provides additional natural light to the Griffin Atrium. It is finished in textured plaster with elements of copper cladding.

The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation: 230,000 square feet (190,000 gross square-feet addition)
Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium: 10,000 square feet
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core: 12,000 square feet Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium: 5,000 square feet
Invisible Worlds: 5,800 square feet (2,800 square feet in the main venue and 3,000 square feet in the pre-show gallery)
Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium: 3,000 square feet David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center: 3,600 square feet
Middle School Learning: 2,500 square feet
High School Learning: 2,700 square feet
College and Career Readiness: ~2,600 square feet Michael Vlock Family Learning Zone: 7,700 square feet Teacher Learning zone: 3,000 square feet

SUSTAINABILITY

The verticality of the Griffin Atrium acts as a key sustainability feature, providing natural light and air circulation to the heart of the building’s interior. Large skylights introduce daylight while the height allows for conditioned air to be introduced at ground level, reducing cooling demands.

A high-performance building envelope with stone cladding, along with deep-set windows and tree-shading, will help keep the building naturally cool in summer. The park’s landscape is highly water-efficient, with adaptive vegetation and an irrigation system that re-uses storm water collected from the roof and retained on-site.

The Museum is targeting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification—a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement—by deploying a range of strategies to reduce waste and conserve energy.

IMPROVEMENTS TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT PARK

The Gilder Center project includes the following improvements to the adjacent portion of Theodore Roosevelt Park, with a new landscape design by Reed Hilderbrand. Improvements to the park will be completed in phases, with renovated areas beginning to open to the public this fall, then in February concurrent with the opening of the Gilder Center, and finally in the spring of 2023.
• a generous and welcoming park entrance that provides visitors with a more gradual transition from Columbus Avenue into the park
• an enlarged Margaret Mead Green with enhanced public access
• new and expanded park gathering spaces, including paved terraces, and seating adjacent to the Margaret Mead Green and Nobel Monument
• improved pedestrian circulation that seamlessly connects to adjacent spaces, relieves congestion, and provides additional space for gathering off the path network
• new planted islands that highlight the Museum’s surroundings and preserve notable canopy trees
• new plantings across the site, including canopy and understory trees, shrubs, and groundcovers that provide continuity and create a rich tapestry with seasonal interest
• infrastructure improvements including upgraded drainage and irrigation
• and an overall increase in the number of trees, benches, and publicly accessible open space.