New urban oasis created at the Natural History Museum 

Architects Feilden Fowles and landscape architects J & L Gibbons transform the gardens at famous London museum.

The previously underused 5-acre gardens around the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London have been remarkably transformed in a £25m scheme by architects Feilden Fowles. Working closely with landscape architects J & L Gibbons and a design team including Gitta Gschwendtner, engineers HRW and Max Fordham, a new urban oasis has been created alongside a Nature Activity Centre supported by AWS and Garden Kitchen café. 

The previous space was comprised mainly of grass, was hindered by lack of access and accessibility and was ripe for redevelopment to frame this famous museum. Designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1881, the Natural History Museum is home to over 80 million specimens of life and earth science within its five main collections of botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. 

The museum is globally recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world and the plan to redevelop the gardens represented an ideal opportunity to create a welcoming, educational, accessible and biologically diverse green space in the heart of London.

The project rejuvenates the grounds of this well-loved museum and creates an immersive timeline of the evolution of the Earth, now fully accessible for the first time. Geological eras are represented in banded strata of rock and the garden now features a full-size bronze Diplodocus called ‘Fern’. The result is a tactile living laboratory called the Urban Nature Project. The two principal gardens called ‘The Evolution Garden’ and ‘Nature Discovery Garden’ encourage visitors to connect with nature, learn about the past and wonder about the future.

The Nature Activity Centre and Garden Kitchen blend in harmony with the green space and have been designed in close association with the museum’s scientists with thought and care, using natural materials with low embodied carbon and passive design principles – ensuring that RIBA Climate Challenge targets were met. 

The frame is created from UK limestone under a Douglas fir roof with cedar shingles. Douglas fir doors, windows and columns adorn the inside. Working with acoustic consultants Max Fordham, Troldtekt wood wool acoustic panels have been utilised through the ceilings to help combat reverberating sound and create a calm and welcoming atmosphere. The buildings also use rainwater harvesting and ground source heat pumps to further reduce their carbon footprint over their lifetime.

From the outset, materials were specified responsibility with the aim using 100% certified sustainable materials and from the UK. Where that wasn’t possible – such as in the case of the wood wool acoustic panels – they were specified only where there was a strong justification to do so. For Troldtekt, the company’s Cradle to Cradle Certified® at Gold level, manufacturing only using wood from certified forests (PEFC/09-31-030 and FSC®C115450) and having impressive CSR policies, coupled with the panels’ excellent acoustical performance, went a long way in helping win the specification. 

Overall, the scheme is a remarkable achievement and has won several awards, including a silver prize at the Holcim Foundation Awards for Sustainable Construction as well as ‘Project of the Year award’ and ‘People’s Choice Award’ at the 2025 Constructing Excellence SECBE Awards.