ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL

NATURALIS

A.P.J.M. VERHEIJEN, 1992-1997, Darwinweg 2, Leiden

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Fons Verheijen
Verheijen/Verkoren/de Haan

BUILDING TYPE:
Museums and exhibition buildings


RELATED BUILDINGS:
Naturalis Biodiversity Center

A footbridge links the 17th-century plague hospital with the new-build for Leiden’s natural history museum. The hospital building contains the entrance hall, museum shop, restaurant and auditorium. The new addition consists of four quadrants of 20 x 20 metres behind a services wing along Darwinweg. One quadrant is 60 metres tall and houses the museum depots, the other three contain exhibition areas. The depot tower and the office wing have a stainless steel finish; the exhibition portion has a cladding of terracotta tiles. Twelve hundred and fifty stainless steel pipes jutting from the grey rendered facade on Plesmanlaan are responsible for a compelling pattern of downward smears.