Shanghai Natural History Museum (a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum) is located within Jing’an Sculpture Park in the City of Shanghai. The building area is 45,257m2, and 32,200m2 is given over to exhibitions, education and service. An annual total of 800,000 to 1.2 million visitors is anticipated. The Museum will be an important Shanghai center for the popularization of science and a platform for social and cultural exchange.
The design of the Museum building is inspired by the structure of a snail’s shell. Layers of green plants spiral upwards, rising from the interior of the park, and the building, which gives the impression of being both stable and dynamic, is just like a green snail. The design is human-centered, and incorporates a landscape garden style using natural ecology methods. The 160 species of plants in the central landscape area are distributed in islands, and like primeval forest combine with five lakes of different sizes to make a landscape garden which pays conscious tribute to China’s architectural traditions. The layers of greenery used in the structure have an excellent insulating effect, saving up to 240,000 kWh per year. The “green snail” itself also boasts 7 major green features: energy-saving and environmental construction, energy-saving air-conditioning, comprehensive use of solar energy, air distribution in the large public areas, natural optical wave-guide technology, a rainwater collection system, and an environmental and energy-saving central management platform. These seven systematic features along with the overall structure qualify the Museum as a “green building” under the national Green Building Evaluation Standards star system.
The Shanghai Natural History Museum has “Nature, Humans, Harmony” as its central theme. Following three main threads, “The Symphony of Evolution”, “The Picture Scroll of Life” and “The Historical Epic of Civilization”, it presents 10 permanent displays: Mysterious Beginnings, The River of Life, Ways of Evolution, Earth Treasures, Colorful Life, Ecological Diversity, Survival Skills, Tied to Earth, Shanghai Environs, and Future Pathways. These are supported by a complete set of functional areas including lobbies, 4D theaters and Exploration Labs. Over 11000 specimens and models are displayed, taken from all 7 continents, and among them there are nearly one thousand specimens of rare species; a walk-in scene of almost 1500 m2 recreates the pulsating “African Savannah”; a large-scale specimen display called “A Meeting Across Space and Time” brings together over 200 flora and fauna celebrities from past and present, China and abroad; the Theater of Cretaceous Escape and 4 other immersion Theaters represent major events of evolutionary history; 26 “Window of Nature” habitat boxes honor the traditional exhibition responsibilities of a natural history museum; 400 visual devices and 1 online museum system serve the needs of the public in this media age; 1500 scientific drawings put on direct view the integration of art and science; 300 m2 of live cultivation bring nature within immediate reach; 1200 m2 of “Exploration Labs” furnish a paradise for hands-on discovery, experimental observation and talk and discussion; an “Epic of Nature” multimedia show offers a visual banquet where science and technology, art and the humanities are combined.
The Shanghai Natural History Museum has over 280,000 items in its collections, including objects from the natural world and human historical relics. These pieces come from East China, from China as a whole, and from every part of the world. They fall into 5 major categories, botany, zoology, paleobiology, geology and anthropology. There are over 150,000 botanical specimens, and over 4,000 mammal pieces. Fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles have over 1000 pieces each, insects nearly 33,000, and other invertebrates over 5,000. There are over 5,000 geological specimens, over 8,000 paleobiological specimens, and over 3,500 pieces of anthropology and folk culture.
The newly founded Natural History Research Center is based on the Museum’s rich collection of specimens. Within its natural history research remit, it will focus on such fields as the ecology and species diversity of the city, the biology of the Earth’s “3 poles”, and evolutionary and comparative biology. It will also support the Museum in its collecting, exhibition work and educational projects. The task of the researchers will be to preserve natural and human relics, use the specimens for academic research, explore and explain how species diversity occurs, develops and can be sustained, and promote human understanding of the living world and its evolving environment. Animating the exhibitions and educational activities, they are to make known to the world the scientific significance of the collections and to transmit the methods and spirit of science to new generations.
The Museum has devised a comprehensive portfolio of educational activities with all kinds of participants in view. We adopt a problem-oriented perspective, and with a student-centered approach to knowledge which promotes autonomous learning and stimulates engagement we get participants to investigate the past, understand the present and think about the future. In addition to the labs, research rooms and educational activity points attached to the permanent exhibitions, we have a special site for educational activities, the Exploration Labs on Basement 2, where there are programs for groups of children, teenagers, students or families. Drawing on the Museum’s exhibits and taking school curriculum content into account, we have developed our own classes which stay close to what the students are likely to be interested in and cover nearly all the academic disciplines. The teaching approach does not confine itself to traditional teacher-based instruction, but embraces learning methods with a variety of levels and abundant interaction, such as examining data records, hands-on experiments, topic lectures, role-plays and discussions. The aim is to foster in students proper methods of research, an autonomous learner attitude and a thorough-going investigative spirit.
In addition to the physical Museum, the SNHM has a system of applications on the Internet, which are mainly designed to guide people through the displays and provide instruction. There are 3 modes of delivery, a web site, apps and Wechat. The system uses roaming WiFi orientation based on locational sensors, and integrating new media technical development resources like enhanced reality and interactive experience it offers the public real-time smart guidance and teaching. Using our app as they go round the exhibition viewers can engage in real-time study, communicate with on-line experts, set up special topic tour routes, or find interesting fossils which correspond to their task in hand. After they have left the Museum they can use the web site to retrace their visit. The system supports PCs, mobiles and tablets, and by integrating User Generated Content with Professionally Generated Content promotes the spontaneous growth of on-line resources.
