Ennead Architects unveils fossil museum in New Jersey quarry

Architecture studio Ennead Architects has completed the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum in New Jersey, USA, which is formed of a series of Accoya wood-clad volumes that hug its elevated site.

Supported by Rowan University, The Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University is located just outside of Philadelphia on the site of a former quarry in Mantua.

The building is located on an elevated ridge between two pits of the former quarry, one of which is now filled with water and another at the front of the building that will contain a fossil-digging section for museum goers.

Across two levels, it contains galleries designed by exhibit design studio G&A dedicated to the Late Cretaceous Period, a theater, cafe, VR studio, conservation area, "critter cove" and an event space for the public.

Ennead Architects and architects of record KSS Architects created a structure made of a series of large, rectangular volumes clad in Accoya wood.

These "lenses" each taper inwards into one, central window, informed by "the idea that the museum is a window through deep time", according to the team.

The studios used the Living Building Challenge as a sustainable guideline for the project, ultimately opting for a hybrid structural system of mass timber, concrete and steel. The building was orientated to reduce the need for artificial heating and cooling.

"The initial decision of where to site the building was rooted in a sustainable idea – solar control is one of the best responses a design can have, and an east-west orientation with a broad face to the south is a much better orientation to control solar heat," said Ennead Architects design partner Thomas J Wong.

"The other key feature here is that it's two storeys on [the north] side, but it's only one storey on the quarry side, which was another way to minimize the visual impacts of the building from the quarry experience, to really make the building integrate with the land," said Wong.

"I like to think that the building is kneeling down in respect to the quarry."

The design also decreases the amount of glazing used around the building's exterior.

"This idea of the lens is beneficial from a sustainability perspective," said KSS Architects senior associate Andrew Sniderman. "What you're doing is having a low window-to-wall ratio, which is good."

According to the team, the project is carbon net-zero, powered by all-electric mechanical systems and geothermal systems that pull from on-site wells.

Designed in collaboration with landscape architect Seed Design, the ground surrounding the museum encompass walking paths, the dig site and a playground with a massive Pteranodon dinosaur climbing structure by Canadian studio Earthscape.

The Edelman Fossil Park & Museum was founded by local palaeontologist and Rowan University professor Kenneth Lacovara, who previously oversaw the New Jersey quarry site for research. He estimates his team excavated over 100,000 fossils from the site over 17 years.

After hosting digs on the site for the public, he was motivated to build and open the museum.

"The breathtaking, sustainable design of the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum embodies our mission," said Lacovara. "Its architectural lenses serve as portals to both past and present, symbolizing our commitment to using Earth's deep-time record to illuminate today’s challenges and inspire a more sustainable future."

Other recently completed projects by Ennead Architects include the US Embassy in Ankara and the renovation of an academic building at John Hopkins Univeristy.

The photography is courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/Etso unless otherwise stated.

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