YALE UNIVERSITY PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Visitors walk amongst large dinosaur fossils as part of a precise, elegant presentation that brings specimens to the public under a scientific premise that links extinction to climate change.

With its world-renowned collection of specimens and fascinating narratives of life on Earth long before man, the Peabody Museum’s Fossil Halls have much to tell. Professors and paleontologists reconceived their discourse to bring forth a fervent, dynamic picture of how early dinosaurs, reptiles and mammals behaved. Challenging previous conceptions, the halls are a reflection the Peabody’s innovative scholarship and research, presenting visitors with questions of their own evolution in the context of climate change and shifting geology. This contemporary look at science inspired Studio Joseph’s modern interiors and carefully considered, artistic displays. 

Accommodating hundreds of carefully selected specimens, the design is at once technically complex and also profoundly reductive in its layout and material palette. The floors, casework and ceilings are bathed in edge grain ash, accentuating the vitality of the historic Zellinger murals. Developed in close collaboration with the Yale scientific and educational teams, interactive media further illuminates the scientific concepts.

The insertion of an upper level balcony allows visitors to look more closely at the wonderful mural and interact with it via a technology that overlays knowledge in fun, engaging ways.