Planted landscapes are woven around a pair of timber-framed buildings in the Natural History Museum gardens in London, revamped by local studios Feilden Fowles and J&L Gibbons.
Overhauled for the first time in the museum's 140-year history, the gardens have been pided into different zones with planting and signage that aim to tell the story of life on Earth.
▲ Fielden Fowles建筑工作室和 J&L Gibbons工作室重新設(shè)計了自然歷史博物館的花園
Fielden Fowles and J&L Gibbons have redesigned the Natural History Museum gardens
According to Feilden Fowles and J&L Gibbons, the goal of the project is to boost the biopersity of the urban landscape and maximise the accessibility of the gardens, all while remaining sensitive to the architecture of the Grade I-listed museum by architect Alfred Waterhouse.
The team also aimed to introduce a range of nature-based learning and research facilities, allowing the gardens to be observed by children, scientists and volunteers.
▲ 古生物學(xué)大樓旁邊設(shè)計了一個花園廚房
The Garden Kitchen sits beside the Palaeontology building
"Respecting the heritage of the museum's iconic Grade I-listed building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse and dubbed a 'cathedral to nature', was a core guiding principle," architect Edmund Fowles told Dezeen.
"Waterhouse's famous facade boasts intricate decoration of flora and fauna, with extinct species on the east wing and extant, or surviving, nature on the west," he continued. "This idea is beautifully reflected through the design of the gardens."
▲ 另增建了一座名為“自然活動中心”的建筑
Another building called the Nature Activity Centre has been added
The studios' design forms part of the Natural History Museum's Urban Nature Project, which is focused on protecting nature in urban areas that are becoming increasingly threatened by climate change and urbanisation.
"As part of this project, the gardens have been transformed into an accessible green space that will be a haven for people and wildlife, and a living laboratory that will make the gardens one of the most intensively studied sites of its kind in the world," said the museum's senior project manager Natalie Tacq.
▲ 自然活動中心設(shè)計有一個懸挑的屋頂
The Nature Activity Centre has an overhanging roof
The different areas carved out within the landscape are the Evolution Garden, the Nature Activity Centre, the Nature Discovery Garden and the Garden Kitchen.
According to Feilden Fowles, the Evolution Garden was planted with greenery that tells the story of deep time – the stretch of geological history from the Cambrian period 540 million years ago to the present day.
▲ 設(shè)計團(tuán)隊借鑒了維多利亞時代的建筑
It takes cues from Victorian architecture. Photo by Jim Stephenson
This forms a backdrop to the Garden Kitchen, which slots beneath the undercroft of the museum's modernist Palaeontology building. Though yet to officially open, it contains kitchens, storage, bathrooms, a function room and a plant room.
The linear 660-square-metre building is formed from a combination of limestone and timber and takes visual cues from Victorian structures such as orangeries and palm houses.
▲ 池塘內(nèi)有一條下沉式通道
There is a sunken pathway within the ponds. Photo by Jim Stephenson
Meanwhile, the Nature Discovery Garden at the west of the site is landscaped to illustrate various natural habitats in the UK. It was designed to minimise disruption to a pre-existing wildlife garden on the same plot.
This garden is also home to the 220-square-metre Nature Activity Centre and provides an access route to a new entrance into the museum from the northwest.
▲ 一只真人大小的恐龍模型坐落在花園里
A life-size model of a dinosaur sits in the gardens. Photo by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum
Similarly to the Garden Kitchen, the Nature Activity Centre has a linear form built with timber and stone. It is crowned by an overhanging roof made from timber, which integrates a rainwater collection system.
The structure cuts between areas with protected tree roots and houses a mix of facilities for scientific work and monitoring, garden maintenance and teaching.
▲ 花園標(biāo)識講述著地球地球物種的故事
The gardens aim to tell the story of life on Earth. Photo by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum
According to Feilden Fowles, the two buildings share a similar aesthetic to help unify them across the site, while their heights aligns with datums of the Waterhouse-designed museum.
"The two buildings were conceived as brother and sister, sharing motifs such as their linear plans, expressed corner entrances, layered, load-bearing stone facades and expressed timber framed roofs," said Fowles.
"This simple, primitive language is intended to be timeless and yet small flourishes of detail, such as rotated, and faintly ornamented corner columns are a nod to some of the more exuberant and witty decoration of Waterhouse's masterpiece."
Completing the gardens are decorative brass inlays in the pathways and bronze letters quoting natural historian David Attenborough. Benches that evoke different geological eras are also dotted throughout the landscape, formed of materials including chalk and flint, alongside a life-size bronze cast of a dinosaur skeleton called Fern.
J&L Gibbons partner Neil Davidson's favourite feature is the sunken pathway within the ponds.
"We designed this space to provide accessible opportunities for everyone of all ages to engage with the rich persity of flora and fauna in the water, to participate in learning activities such as pond dipping and to be immersed in the wetland habitats which is a rare opportunity in a central London location," he told Dezeen.
▲ 兩座建筑均由木材和石材建成
Both buildings are made of wood and stone. Photo by Jim Stephenson
Neil Davidson補充說:“這些隱蔽的傳感器網(wǎng)絡(luò)將從整個花園收集音頻和環(huán)境數(shù)據(jù),以幫助博物館的科學(xué)家們了解和支持英國城市的自然環(huán)境的恢復(fù)。”
Less visible features of the garden include "an underground web of scientific monitoring points" for the museum's scientists to observe the landscape and understand how nature is changing in urban areas.
"The network of sensors that have been sensitively incorporated into the design will gather
audio and environmental data from across the gardens," added Davidson. "This data will help the museum's scientists to understand and support UK urban nature recovery."
▲ “自然活動中心”包含研究設(shè)施
The Nature Activity Centre contains research facilities
To reduce the carbon footprint of the project, locally sourced materials have been used where possible. Passive design principles help cool and warm the buildings in tandem with air-source heat pumps.
Feilden Fowles is a London studio founded by Fergus Feilden with Fowles in 2009. Its other recent projects include a timber-framed dining hall at the University of Cambridge and The Weston visitor centre at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Photo by Jim Stephenson
Photo by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum
除非另有說明,照片均由Kendal Noctor拍攝。
The photography is by Kendal Noctor unless stated otherwise.