Studio Gang designs cave-like Gilder Center for American Museum of Natural History in NYC

[Celerity]

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/04/28/studio-gang-gilder-center-new-york-city/





Chicago-based architecture firm Studio Gang has designed the Gilder Center in Manhattan to prioritize connectivity, creating a massive cavernous atrium meant to provoke a sense of exploration and discovery. The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Innovation, and Education is a new addition to the American Museum of Natural History off Central Park that unites, visually and functionally, the 26 buildings constructed there since its opening in the late 19th century.





Placed between two Romanesque buildings, the structure has a stone facade made with a mega-panel system that references the geometry of the adjacent buildings. This uses the same stone as the primary entrance building – Milford pink granite sourced from the original quarry, which reopened for the occasion.





The six-storey building is tucked away from the street, between the other buildings, which led Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang to call it an "inny building". The studio focused on internal experiences and connections to the rest of the museum's buildings, instead of trying to make the new addition an "object" building. "Architects in the last few years have been doing object buildings: it looks like something from the outside, a fancy shape or something like that," Gang told Dezeen.





"But that's not at all what we were doing here because we really started by making the museum more connective," Gang added. "So it ended up being the interior structure that was the most important architectural element." She added that while the building and its exploration are great for children, it is meant to bring out joy in everyone. "To be an architect is to extend your childhood throughout your entire life," she said. "It's about the joy of exploring a space." The interior revolves around the Kenneth C Griffin Exploration Atrium, a five-storey structure with cave-like walls and overhead bridges.

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[CozyMystery]

1. Wow!

It is beautiful and so creatively designed. I love it!

[electric_blue68]

2. TY for the reminder about this. ...

It's kind of strange, but intriguing.
I love a lot of certain modern architecture.
Love ornate older architecture, too.

I think it will be interesting to roam around inside it.
🤔 Thinks when to go when there are the least people there (Covid concerns) esp school kids.