Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum of Singapore is the repository and exhibition for specimens and artifacts formerly housed in the old National History Museum as well as a venue for biodiversity research. Plants native to Singapore fill a 6-story cleft in the building's ‘cliff-like façade’. As the emphasis for the venue is on education, four distinct areas have been created to simulate the natural habitat for plants native to Singapore. Between the geodic main building and the supporting laboratory facilities are a series of interactive native species exhibits focusing on freshwater mangroves, aquatic plants, palms and other native flowering plants. To encourage hands-on learning, exhibits allow children of all ages to interact with the small micro-ecosystem pools. On the east side of the building, a phylogenetic garden showcases distinct shrub species that demonstrate the evolution of native plant species over time. On the north side of the Museum, an extensive ‘beach’ environment and interactive mangrove pools replicate the evolution of an equatorial rainforest island. Interactive mangrove pools highlight the importance of the contributions these habitats made to Singapore’s brackish rivers.