The Urban Nature Project is the Natural History Museum’s response to the growing pressures of urbanisation and biodiversity loss on people and planet. It aims to give people across the UK, no matter who they are or where they live, the motivation and tools to safeguard nature in towns and cities.

The project transforms an underused garden into an urban oasis, telling the story of change on our planet over time. New areas of habitat allow nature to flourish, and create a living laboratory where scientists can monitor, record and study urban wildlife.

The timeline begins with a nod to Precambrian times. As visitors are guided into the Phanerozoic Eon, their journey through the garden is scaled to the lengths of the different geological periods, from Cambrian Period through to the present day.
As they weave along the Evolution Timeline supported by the Evolution Education Trust, visitors will encounter rocks of different ages that tell the story of how our islands formed.

These include the Lewisian gneiss, our oldest rocks that formed over 2.7 billion years ago before complex life evolved, granites that tell of massive movements in the Earth’s crust driven by the formation and breakup of continents, limestones full of fossils that formed in shallow tropical seas and sandstones laid down as desert dune systems.

At least 26 different rocks are used throughout the canyon and the rest of the Evolution Timeline, representing different geological ages. All but two were sourced from across the UK, from Cornwall all the way up to the Outer Hebrides.

Helen Whitehouse OBE – Client, Chief of Operating Officer, Natural History Museum

Garden Kitchen is a 660m2 timber and stone building. It is multipurpose, functioning as a cafe space, events space and a seasonal storage and display space for the more exotic plants in the Evolution Garden. An important design driver behind the Garden Kitchen has been the desire to be ‘of the garden’, and, while referential and respectful, not a pastiche of either of its neighbours. The design development has explored various historic garden building typologies. The design has evolved from being a more literal glasshouse, with pitched roof, to being more strongly influenced by more formal garden structures, taking inspiration from traditional garden orangeries.

The proposed stone elevations reference the horizontal layering of the Waterhouse terracotta facade, this layering is also displayed in the geological strata of the proposed landscaping and ‘timeline wall’ to the south of the café. The building establishes a strong rhythm at ground floor level by the stone columns, which frame openings to a buffer space hosting a display of botanical exhibits during winter months. This space becomes an open cloister in summer allowing visitors to sit under cover looking out across the carboniferous forest planting to the south. The double elevation is central to the building’s energy strategy, providing a buffer space in winter and harnessing winter sunlight to warm the building, and in summer creating shading to reduce overheating.

The design of the 5 acres of gardens has been driven by an ambition to conserve and enhance biodiversity across the site, including the 3,300 animal species found living in the existing Wildlife Garden which dates from 1995.

With a habitat protection programme at its heart, the scheme extends and enhances woodland, grassland, scrub, heath, fen, reedbed, hedgerow, urban UK habitats, and wetlands including a complex relocation of the pond, which now features a sunken walkway to enable school groups to take part in pond dipping.

The design team have worked closely with the Museum’s scientists to sensitively develop a series of outdoor living galleries, providing opportunities to learn about and explore nature.

The new pond was carefully designed to ensure the wetland area is biologically diverse and a thriving home for urban wildlife. For example, reeds are an important group of pond species, however if given the chance they will quickly run riot across the habitat. Whereas the previous pond was dominated by reed beds, the new design includes purposeful habitat breaks and steep banks to hopefully keep the reeds in check. A miniature island made from small stones and gravel will provide respite for ducks such as coots and moorhens.

Nature Activity Centre is a 200sqm timber and stone building nestled within the Nature Discovery Garden. It will combine vital facilities for scientific work, monitoring, learning activities, maintenance and supporting the volunteer community so important to the upkeep of the gardens. The new centre will allow improved access, legibility and interpretation of the Nature Discovery Garden, expanding the important scientific work of the Museum, encouraging community science activities and a training space for future urban ecologists providing a hub for school workshops in the gardens.

The Garden Kitchen and Nature Activity Centre have a shared architectural language which relates to the wider geological concepts of the UNP site. The type of stone used for the facade varies depending on the datum level and corresponds to the geological periods. The buildings have limestone plinths from Purbeck Spangle. This concept continues up, with Ancaster and Clipsham limestone columns which transition into wet cast stone lintels above.

The Urban Nature Project champions sustainability through locally sourced natural materials, including Douglas fir and UK limestones, reducing embodied carbon in line with RIBA Climate Challenge targets. Passive design ensures natural ventilation, airtightness, and excellent thermal performance, with renewable energy supplied by Air Source Heat Pumps. A holistic water strategy harvests rainwater and channels surface water through rills, swales, and infiltration basins, irrigating planting and enriching site ecology. The result is a regenerative, resilient model of sustainable architecture and landscape design.

Rowan Moore – The Observer

The area of the garden next to the Darwin Centre has been replanted to represent what our towns and cities might look and feel like in the future. The suburban edge garden now homes a mix of native and non-native, ornamental and edible species.