The American Museum of Natural History in New York is set to open its new building, a sweeping piece of architecture designed to connect visitors with their place in the natural world.
Tiny ants march along a glass bridge overhead in the new museum wing, The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation. Giant whales swoop along the walls in an immersive video display. And the building’s natural curves — inspired by canyons in the Southwest — are meant to highlight how all of it is intertwined.
The $465 million center, nearly a decade in the making, is set to open to the public next Thursday, adding a new wow factor to one of the world’s most visited museums.
Architect Jeanne Gang said at a media preview Wednesday that she asked herself how the space could contribute to peoples’ natural desire to learn. “This led us to look at geological landscapes, where one can see how the natural forces actually shape the material, shape our world,” she said.
The Gilder Center is already home to more than a half million tiny inhabitants, residents of an insect exhibition with 18 species of live critters, and an indoor garden where visitors can mingle with hundreds of moths and butterflies.
The goal is to get people “up close and personal” with the bugs and highlight their importance to the natural world, said museum entomologist David Grimaldi.
“Insects get a very bad rap because of this tiny, tiny fraction of biting or disease-transmitting insects,” Grimaldi said. But most insect species pose no danger to humans and are an essential part of their bigger ecosystems, he said.
Brightly colored butterflies flap around a garden — which is kept hot and humid to mimic their tropical homes — while giant beetles munch on decaying fruit.
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