Kew Gardens Herbarium, London, Architect, Edward Cullinan Project, English Design

Kew Herbarium, London

Royal Botanic Gardens Building: Library, Art and Archives – design by Edward Cullinan Architects

19 May 2011

Kew Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives

RIBA Award winner, 19 May 2011

The new wing to the 1853 Herbarium provides a modern storage facility for the most vulnerable pieces of the existing seven million artifact collection of plant specimens and manuscripts.

Herbarium photograph © Tim Soar

The plan is essentially that of a three story rectangular red brick storage vault, linked to the main building by a western red cedar and glass clad cylindrical three storey building which also houses the reception, library and a circular reading room. The buildings are arranged to create a new entrance courtyard to the side of the main building.

Herbarium photos © Tim Soar

The new storage vaults are designed to keep the collection at a constant temperature of 15 degrees centigrade and use a mechanical air handling and a ground source heat pump to reduce C02 emissions. The building has a BREEAM excellent rating.

Herbarium photos © Simon Feneley

Kew Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives – Building Information

Title: New Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives Wing Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey
Architect: Edward Cullinan Architects
Client: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Contractor: Willmott Dixon Construction
Structural Engineer: Buro Happold
Contract Value: £16m
Date of completion: Jun 2009
Gross internal area: 5,000 sqm

RIBA Awards

Previously:

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Herbarium

2010

Edward Cullinan Architects

The new wing of Kew’s Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives, designed by Edward Cullinan Architects opens on Tuesday 28 September 2010.

Herbarium photos © Simon Feneley

Every 40 years or so Kew’s Herbarium has to expand to accommodate all the specimens brought back to Kew by our botanists and partners from their expeditions (30,000 – 50,000 new specimens every year).

Kew’s Herbarium is an active research centre and its collection of some 8 million preserved plant and fungal specimens are used by scientists trying to find out how plants, fungi and their ecosystems are thriving or declining in the face of threats such as biodiversity loss and climate change.

Herbarium photos © Tim Soar

Kew’s Herbarium, Library, Art and Archive is located on Kew Green, Kew TW9 3AE.

Kew Tree Top Walkway

image : Marks Barfield Architects

Kew Garden’s Tree Top Walkway images / information received from B-G

Edward Cullinan Architects

Location: Kew Gardens, London, UK

Architecture in London

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The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world.

Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction and its 132 hectares of landscaped gardens attract over one million visitors per year.