After an international competition, Snøhetta has been chosen to renovate the Natural History Museum of Lille, in France. The city of Lille, in fact, aims to redefine its university district through a program of preservation, renewal, and new developments. The project for the Museum of Natural History is therefore part of this ambitious scenario.

The recent extensions on the three parts of the building will be removed, while the original facades will be preserved, and at the same time flexible spaces and circulation zones will be added. Also a brick-clad extension will be included, in order to unify the museum’s exhibition areas, and storage spaces, and simplify technical operations, increasing at once the accessibility to the site.

The project will feature a range of sustainability measures, such as the installation of photovoltaic panels, a rainwater collection system, the use of repurposed and bio-sourced materials, and the addition of new tree-shaded courtyards that create “cool islands” in the center of each volume.

Exhibition designer Adeline Rispal will propose a program of new display methods “associating transversality with a holistic approach to science”.