The Museum of Natural History is expanding. Soon, we'll be able to catch our breaths beside dinosaur skeletons and learn about black holes in a much bigger, revamped, well circulated space.

We have to ask, though. Could Penn Station revamp instead? Could we get an upgrade for Port Authority as an alternative?

In our opinion, the Museum of Natural History is already quite gorgeous, and efforts to beautify New York City would be better placed somewhere that isn't already beautiful.

However, we digress. The expansion will cost $325 million, and The New York Times has referred to the addition as both "cautious and audacious."

Plans for the new design were approved by the Museum of Natural History's board on Wednesday. There are many pros to the new expansion, one of which is is that the design will eat up less park space than expected. 

Hopefully, this news is a relief for the 200 or so residents who came out to a town-hall-style meeting last month to protect Teddy Roosevelt Park.

As a clear response to Defenders of Teddy Roosevelt Park, a recently formed organization, the museum decided to take down three of its existing buildings to make room for the six-story addition, rather than infringe on the park.

Still, the design calls for 218,000 feet of new space. It will require the uprooting of 11,600 square feet of parkland. 

Via Studio Gang Architects

The design for expansion evokes both the contemporary aesthetics of Frank Gehrey's museum in Bilbao, Spain in its exterior, and Turkey's underground city of Cappadocia in a cavelike interior.

The design was created by the architect Jeanne Gang, and will be titled the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation.

The addition will unite the museum's activities and solve its infamous circulation problems. We know these all too well. We're in the butterfly section and we want to make our way to the space section. We can't do this without getting endlessly lost.

The new design will have more than 30 connections at multiple levels across 10 buildings, "so we no longer have visitors bumping into cul-de-sacs or dead ends. They have a fluid, continuous journey," Gang said.

The addition will also provide a multistory showcase for the museum's growing role as a hub for scientific research and study. 

There will be a new Invisible Worlds Theater, which will contain the latest imaging technology focused on revealing the inside of the brain or a grain of sand. We are so stoked about this we can barely stay in our seats.

Gang said in her design she was looking to conjure spaces that have been created by forces of nature like "geological canyons, glacial forms," and foster a sense of connectivity and discovery.

The new design is not wrought in stone. The museum has still got to present the design to neighborhood groups, and it will be subject to a public approval process, including an evaluation by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The center is planned to open in late 2019 or early 2020. There will also be a new entrance between 79th and 80th Streets. Get ready to get your learn on.

‘A Night at the Museum Sleepover for Adults’ Just Announced Three More Dates for This Year. 

[via The NY Times]