Project
Shenzhen Natural History Museum

Nomination 
Best Architectural Design for a Museum

About the project
studioMilou’s Shenzhen Natural History Museum offers a pavilion of expansive learning and discovery, open in four directions to the city and beyond. With a design of monumental proportions reflecting the Museum’s national and universal significance, the new Shenzhen Natural History Museum’s extensive high-volumes interiors create spectacular exhibition spaces for the collections and exhibits of natural history from time immemorial to the present day. Transparent facades are modeled to echo the geological stratifications and layers of the land from which Shenzhen’s natural history, and that of China at large, has emerged.
The designs seek to create a destination at once contemporary and yet timeless in its classical references, so as to reflect the continuity and extensiveness of the time spans of natural history, as well as the centuries-old efforts by scientists and researchers, often unseen, to understand the natural world.

Location
Shenzhen, Pingshan District, China

Project created in
2020

Applicant and authors of the project
studioMilou is an architectural firm based in Singapore, with branches in Paris and Hanoi which privileges beautifully crafted design. Founded by French architect, Jean-Francois Milou, the studio has a track record in award-winning museum and public projects including the National Gallery Singapore and iconic Carreau du Temple in Paris, along with adaptive reuse, heritage projects and high-end residential projects that bring simple solutions to complex design issues.