Nature meets fashion: The design of Naturalis

The Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands, showcases a wing designed by Neutelings Riedijk Architects in collaboration with renowned fashion designer Iris van Herpen. The design of the wing directly influences a couture dress created by Van Herpen, featuring over 1,000 meters of delicate concrete friezes that blend fossil forms with the textures of her fashion collections.

Innovative designs: A fusion of art and nature

Iris van Herpen draws inspiration from the delicate works of marble sculptors like Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who captured soft, pleated silk in stone. Van Herpen explains: “I thought of the beautiful work of marble sculptors like Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the way they captured soft pleated silk in stone so beautifully and so delicately. The intention really was not to go away from my couture process too much, but instead to still it, and to disembody it.” This philosophy has led to a design that marries the texture and aesthetics of fabric with the beauty of natural forms.

Molded from concrete mixed with fine marble aggregate

The 263 panels enveloping the blocks are molded from concrete mixed with fine marble aggregate, resulting in a delicate appearance reminiscent of textile. To craft these forms, Van Herpen conducted extensive research on various rock formations and fossils within the Naturalis collection. This included traveling to diverse locations to study natural phenomena firsthand, such as the volcanic rock formations in Tenerife.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects emphasize the significance of collaborations with artists and designers. The partnership with Iris van Herpen for the Naturalis extension exemplifies this philosophy. “For Naturalis, we wove the fluidity of fashion with the permanence of architecture, creating a space that echoes the natural world’s elegance and complexity,” the architects state. Van Herpen adds, “This eternalized life in stone is breathtaking; these frozen forms made me think of stone as a draping material, like fabric.”