The State of Utah recently celebrated the groundbreaking for the Utah Museum of Natural History's new home at the University of Utah's Rio Tinto Center. The project is scheduled to open in winter 2010-2011.

A new 161,000-sq.-ft. building will be double the size of its current facility, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects with Gilles Stransky Brems Smith Architects, and exhibits designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. It will offer a unique indoor/outdoor experience with views of Utah's landscape. More than 1.2 million objects will be displayed and housed. It will also provide advanced research facilities and establish a venue for undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Utah.

The project team did indepth research on the state of Utah, embarking on several week-long investigatory journeys, exploring natural sites and visiting with its people. They gathered attributes and characteristics that define Utah and its culture.

"We have designed a building in which the architecture is a metaphor for the landscape and the rich culture of Utah," says design partner Todd Schliemann of Polshek Partnership.

Conceived as an abstract extension and transformation of the land, the building rests on a series of terraces that lay along the contours of the site. The materials used, such as concrete, stone, and copper, reinforce the role of the architecture in illuminating Utah's rich geological and mineralogical history.

"The heart of the museum is the canyon, a soaring space that inspires understanding of the natural world and our place within it, a space that underscores the museum's mission," says Schliemann. Also featured is the "collections wall," a multi-story glass vitrine, which displays and interprets artifacts found in the museum's collection.

The museum's exhibits are organized in a series of eight thematic exhibit areas and three embedded learning labs.