I recently had an opportunity to tour around the new Darwin Centre 2 (DC2) building at the Natural History Museum, London. The building's construction phase is almost over, and it is now about to start being fitted out for public and staff access. DC2 will house most of the NHM’s 30 million+ insect and plant specimens in a 65-metre-long, eight-storey-high cocoon, and provide state of the art labs and office space from most members of the NHM's Entomology and Botany department. The cocoon sits in a glass atrium with workspaces at either end linking the Waterhouse building with the first phase of the Darwin Centre (DC1). The latter houses the NHM's spirit preserved material and the NHM's Zoology department.

Without doubt, the building is architecturally stunning. During the tour I took a few photos that I have uploaded to my Flickr account. The image below provides a quick overview of some selected pictures, but for a better look, check out the linked originals on Flickr. These don't do the building justice, but they give an impression of what to expect. I will be moving in (along with the NHM Phthiraptera collection) toward the middle of next year, and DC2 is scheduled to be formally opened to the public towards the end of 2009.