Los Angeles County Natural History Museum

Los Angeles, California | 3.5 Acres | 2012 

Design Team: CO Architects, Studio-MLA, Psomas, PACE Engineering, Cordell Corp, Matt Construction

Owner: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Photo: Courtesy of Tom Bonner

In close collaboration with museum educators, program curators, and research scientists, Studio-MLA designed the Nature Gardens to work with and reveal natural processes with the goal of creating wildlife habitat and increasing urban biodiversity. The gardens serve as a laboratory for urban ecological research. Extending the Museum’s exhibits, events, and educational programming outdoors fosters hands-on learning and nature exploration in the heart of the city. Once a parking lot, the foreground of the Natural History Museum is now home to over 400 new plants – 70% of them native to the area – which provide habitat for insects, birds and mammals and serve as a research extension for the Museum.