GILDER CENTER, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

New York, NY

Natural form-making processes informed this architecture. Akin to a porous geologic formation shaped by the flow of wind and water, the building’s central, five-story atrium greets arriving visitors like an intriguing landscape, ready to be explored. Opening the building to natural daylight, the atrium structure also provides intriguing views into different spaces, while bridging physical connections between them. Its structural walls and arches carry the building’s gravity loads. It is constructed using shotcrete, a technique more often used to shape swimming pools, which sprays structural concrete directly onto steel bar cages digitally modeled and custom-bent. Eliminating the waste of formwork, the technique achieves a seamless, visually and spatially continuous interior, whose form extends outward to greet the park and neighborhood beyond.

This sketch location was recommended by my New York City architect son, during one of our occasional visits to the city. I was very surprised when I entered the space – not your grandfather’s museum. Given the amorphous forms and shapes, I chose pointillism as my medium – hand stippled dots – thousands of them. Very tedious, but allows for smooth transitions around the curves and corners.