Geology Museum

Ian Ritchie Architects were commissioned in 1992 to prepare a new museum concept and environmental refurbishment and fire strategy for the Geological Museum. It became known as the Earth Galleries at the Natural History Museum, complementing the Life Galleries.

We envisaged the creation of a spectacular new rock hall based upon a 21st ‘twist’ of the museum’s geological collection as the centrepiece of  6,000m² of galleries – six new permanent exhibition areas, temporary exhibition galleries and the reorganisation of public amenities and circulation.

The master planning, in collaboration with the artists Michael Craig-Martin and Joseph Kosuth, was undertaken in parallel with exhibition designs. The new museum was opened in 1997.

The rock hall was not implemented.