The vision of the Nature Museum in Jerusalem is to fill a need on the national and local levels on subjects that are the focus of worldwide attention:
the plant Earth, life on Earth, and the mutual relations between humans and their environment, with an emphasis on the importance of the environment to our quality of life. This vision will be implemented on the basis of specific goals and features.
In cooperation with the Jerusalem Municipality, the Hebrew University, the Jerusalem Fund, the Nature Museum, and the Israel Association of United Architects, the JDA promoted planning and held an architectural competition to establish the new Nature Museum in the Museums Campus at Givat Ram.
The vision for the new Nature Museum in Jerusalem is to present issues on the global agenda relating to the planet Earth and the relations between humans and their environment, with an emphasis on the importance of the environment to our quality of life. The museum will address spheres of science relevant to our survival, focusing on our region. Exhibitions will present the key findings of national nature collections held by the Hebrew University, as well as contemporary studies by the research laboratories at the Hebrew University and by other academic research institutes. The museum will serve as a center for learning on nature and the environment; will provide cultural experiences for a broad range of audiences; and will serve as a leisure center and meeting place for residents
of the city and visitors.
The museum is due to be established on Rupin Street, adjacent to the Bloomfield Science Museum.
The winning proposal in the competition aimed to establish a museum formed from a series of exhibition spaces separated by internal courtyards. The roofs of the building form an integral part of the exhibition and will include green roof systems illustrating different botanical regions around Israel. The visiting route through the museum will thus include walking through open, airy areas as well as closed galleries. The new Nature Museum is one of a series of large public buildings under construction, or planned for construction, in the National Campus, including the Israel National Library, the new building of the Antiquities Authority, and the Nature Museum. Naturally, these join the existing Bible Lands Museum, Science Museum, and Israel Museum as part of the plan to transform the entire area into a lively museum campus similar to those around the world. On the urban level, the Museum Campus is due to be connected to the new Jerusalem business center under construction at the entrance to the city, which will include office space, commerce, residential functions, and hotels. The Jerusalem Municipality hopes that together with the new light rail line along Kaplan St., the Museums Campus will become a lively part of the city.