Inatura Natural History Museum

Dornbirn, Austria

Photo © Bruno Klomfar

Museums + Galleries

Architects: Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten

Location: Dornbirn, Austria
Year: 2003

On a historically significant industrial site of a hammer mill, a natural history museum and city garden was established after the closing down of the company. New and additional parts have been added with flair and finesse to the surviving historic buildings, in which the industrial character of the existing buildings was referenced and interpreted in a contemporary manner.

The interior design utilizes the large spaces, while being individually organized on multiple levels. A new connecting structure was breezily stilted on a concrete panel and clad in the same pre-rusted steel plates, as was the biomass heating unit at the front side of the former turnery.

The new administration buildings extend across the rear courtyard, linked to the old sections of the hall by a corridor. Their protruding first floor above a glazed basement is screened with a textile envelope representing the rust motif.

In the former turnery the ticket counter, the café and the museum shop are gathered in a spacious foyer. The round tour on the upper floor begins with a connecting passage at the projection room past the former blast furnaces, which have been preserved as an industrial monument. The two foundries positioned at an angle to each other were completely degutted and extended into the basement. On and below free-standing platforms, a wide array of topics relating to nature and technology are presented.