Leeser Architecture wins competition for World Mammoth and Permafrost Museum in Siberia
Leeser Architecture has won the international competition for the World Mammoth and Permafrost Museum in the city of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia in the center of Siberia. The Museum and Scientific Research Center and Laboratory study Siberian mammoths and permafrost, the natural habitat where their remains have been found.
The Museum, totaling 70,000sf, is sited at the foot of the Tchoutchour Mouran, a hill that punctuates the vast flat landscape of western Yakutsk.
Inverted legs on the roof act as light collectors, capturing sunlight form the south and west. Light monitors, positioned to disrupt wind patterning and minimize snow drifting on the roof, regulate shades to prevent heat loss.
The building has been designed so the worlds of the museum and scientific research can coexist without contamination. Visitors are afforded views of restricted levels—the mechanical and research lab levels—by escalators that take them in a climate controlled tube through the building up to the museum level. It is adjacent to the reception areas, shops, auditorium, conference rooms, media library, exhibition spaces, and a café that floats within an indoor garden. The hall also provides access to underground Permafrost Galleries deep within the Tchoutchour Mouran where visitors can view a recently discovered intact wooly mammoth.
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