Our brief was to catapult the institution into the 21st century, delivering a reinvented museum within a 300-year-old, Baroque palace. The new Biotopia museum will be an almost avant-garde take on a long-established museum. Juxtaposed against its regal setting, this progressive, future-focused and sustainable museum promises to be a natural history museum like no other. Biotopia turns the traditional museum experience on its head. It neither expects, nor allows, you to pass through as a passive admirer of artefacts. Our design pulls you into the research process, blurring the boundaries between visitor and researcher to make you an active agent of change. Exposed laboratories invite you to take part in real-time experiments. Object displays are fused with activity areas. Live animal exhibits, nature trails and a 10 million-strong butterfly collection create an unexpected visitor journey full of twists and turns.
