What to see at the Shenzhen Natural History Museum, from dinosaur fossils to meteorites

The US$517 million museum opening on July 28 is a ‘living educational landscape’ covering space, dinosaurs, evolution and much more

The Shenzhen Natural History Museum will open to the public on July 28 as the first dedicated large-scale institution of its kind in southern China.

Spearheaded by the Shenzhen government with a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan (US$517 million) – excluding the cost of collecting artefacts – the museum, located in the Pingshan district in the northeast of the city, is among its “Ten Cultural Facilities of the New Era”.

The Shenzhen Natural History Museum is located on a 42,000-square-metre (450,000 sq ft) site, with a total floor area of 105,300 square metres. It was designed by Danish architectural firm 3XN, Canada-based B+H Architects and Chinese firm Zhubo Design in a consortium selected through a competition that drew more than 70 proposals from around the world.

Inspired by the form of a river delta, the building has a free-flowing, curvilinear structure that features a walkable green rooftop park and houses permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, research laboratories, a 1,100-seat nature theatre and three cinemas.