The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is recognized as one of the finest natural history museums in North America.  It is the largest museum in Ohio dedicated to the natural sciences, hosting more than 375,000 total visitors throughout the year. The Museum’s collections encompass approximately 5 million specimens.

In 2019 the CMNH decided it was time to take a significant step forward in terms of expanding and improving their aging facilities.  The focus was to develop new exhibition and public space and to reimagine and reinstall their permanent exhibits.  At this stage WBa was hired to assist the museum in reimagining what a new collection facility would encompass.

WBA began a process of engaging with curatorial and collection staff to understand the requirements for housing the collection including ensuring the necessary facilities for caring for, managing and accessing the collection were part of the overall building program. It included modifying and employing a collection assessment process WBA has developed over the years for understanding collection needs. The result of this process was a collection facility building program that was integrated into the overall facility program.

WBA was then asked to assist the project architect (the DLR Group) in designing the collection facilities for the new project.  WBA worked closely with the architectural team in developing the early concepts and ensuring the new facilities met the curatorial and collection staff’s goals for the project.  WBA was also made responsible for designing the equipment to house the collection in the new facility, providing coordination, management and review services throughout fabrication and installation of the equipment.