Daniel Libeskind's firm Studio Libeskind has unveiled plans for a striking new museum in Kenya that's intended to resemble hand axe tools made by early man. Aiming for a 2024 opening, the museum will explore the history of humans, the science behind climate change and evolution, and more.
While there are no images of the interior available yet, the exterior of the museum looks, from the renders at least, to take its place among the Kenyan landscape very well indeed. It will be situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking an area called Rift Valley in northern Kenya, where the most complete skeleton of early man known to date, Turkana Boy, was found.
The project was commissioned by conservationist, politician and paleoanthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey (who is credited with discovering Turkana Boy) and will be named Ngaren: The Museum of Humankind.
"The museum will be a place for discovery, wonder, and contemplation," says Libeskind. "Through the architecture and exhibitions, Ngaren will anchor all walks of life to Africa: the epicenter of human existence. I created a series of dramatic spaces within the museum that are architecturally dynamic and provocative, creating a unique context for the museum's exhibitions that does not pacify artifacts, but enhances and enlivens them."
The team aims to break ground on the project in 2022 and to help bring that about, is running a crowdfunding campaign. As of writing it has raised US$4.06 million of a $7 million goal. It's not clear whether or not the museum will still go ahead if the full amount isn't raised.
Source: Studio Libeskind
