The Natural History Museum

The museum and the collection

The University Museum consists of two main buildings: the Historical Museum and the Natural History Museum. The first presents various archaeological, anthropological and historical collections, whereas the latter exhibits botanical, geological and zoological objects. The Natural History Museum also includes live collections of plants at the museum’s garden, the Botanical Garden and the Arboretum.

The assignment

The Natural History Museum underwent a major restoration to be able to present new exhibitions, for which Meyvaert designed, manufactured and installed 20 custom-made showcases. It was important that the design and the quality of these new showcases were similar to the original ones and suitable for the exhibitions of extremely rare and valuable objects. Moreover, the new display cases delivered for this project needed to blend into one of Norway’s oldest, most vulnerable and preservation worthy museums, part of which is protected by cultural heritage.

The project: challenges & result

The wooden floor wasn’t level and therefore we had to use metal spreader plates to be able to evenly spread the weight. Most of the cases were provided with a suspended shelving system to guarantee as much flexibility as possible. Different LED lighting systems were implemented, with LED spots in the ceiling and vertical tracks to light the shelves. To facilitate the installation of several objects, two of the showcases were provided with a slide-out base and six of them were cladded with brass.

“The collaboration and communication has been outstanding from the very start of the project - starting with the first meeting at the museum until the final handover. Overall the showcases are of a very high quality, both technically and aesthetically.” - Lars Holm, Design Leader