London’s Natural History Museum turns to 3D printing in latest gallery

London’s iconic Natural History Museum is not only famed for its world-class exhibitions, it is also one of the most elaborate and well-known buildings made from terracotta. Architect Alfred Waterhouse, who designed the building in the 19th century, wanted to use the clay-based building material instead of more conventional stone because it was less costly and labour intensive to work with as well as more resilient to the grime and pollution of Victorian London. The tradition of using clay materials in the building lives on in the museum’s newest permanent gallery, Fixing Our Broken Planet, through the integration of display cases with 3D printed ceramic features.

Fixing Our Broken Planet opened officially on April 3, 2025 and is the Natural History Museum’s first permanent gallery in over a decade. In other words, you have plenty of time to take in the exhibition, as well as the 3D printed design that has gone into it. The gallery’s design was spearheaded by the museum’s in-house team of architects, who were looking to redesign the space in a way that both paid homage to the original architecture and would have a minimal ecological impact. They even conducted a study to assess the environmental footprint of various manufacturing and material options. Based on the results of this study, the architecture team landed on robotic additive manufacturing and ceramic materials as the most sustainable path.

The 3D printing was carried out in partnership with LAMÁQUINA, a Barcelona-based 3D printing service that leveraged WASP’s robotic AM technology to create a series of clay structures. With sustainability as a key goal, the material used was composed of 40% recycled clay derived from the ceramics industry. The 3D printed components in the gallery include 1,686 individual pieces (made in under three months!) based on ten module designs. These pieces were assembled in various combinations to form the bases of display cases and benches around the gallery. Notably, some of the 3D printed components integrated technical features, like holes for cables or signage.

“Just as the choice of terracotta was a contextual response to the needs of its time, the design of this new gallery reflects today’s priorities,” writes LAMÁQUINA. “One key strategy is the use of 3D printing ceramics for display cases, which enabled meeting all the demands of the new gallery while respecting the stringent measures of working in a heritage site without interfering with the original architecture.”

One of these stringent measures stipulated that nothing could touch the walls of the historic building or impose point loads above 400 kg, which meant much planning went into not only the design of the display cases, but also their installation, a process that was ultimately completed in just 10 days. In the end, the brick-like ceramic structures function as the foundation for the new gallery, creating a bridge between natural materials like clay and technological innovations like 3D printing, especially fitting in the context of the gallery’s mission which “explores practical, nature-based solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the planet today.”