Envisioning Yale’s New Home for Natural History
The steel frame for Brontosaurus has been installed in the Burke Hall of Dinosaurs and adorned with the sauropod’s massive pelvis, leg bones, and dorsal vertebrae. Each individual fossil is supported by its own, independent armature and can be removed for study. One femur alone weighs nearly 600 pounds and the hips are so enormous …
Tylosaurus was one of the largest genera of mosasaur in history. The specimen now displayed in the Peabody’s new Central Gallery once swam and hunted in Late Cretaceous seas over what is now Texas. Its fossilized remains were preserved for millions of years before being meticulously extracted and prepared for exhibition. This fossil mount, a …
The Peabody’s new Central Gallery, beautifully designed by Centerbrook Architects & Planners, is now home to two of the museum’s signature fossil mounts. The “Skeleton Crew” from Research Casting International delivered and installed Archelon and Tylosaurus in just under a week. Suspended from the beamed ceiling and bathed in natural light, one of the largest …
A construction project of this scale has so many individual tasks and components that progress can seem slow. During the past month, however, the renovation has accelerated dramatically and corners of the new Peabody are taking shape. Classrooms, offices, and exhibition spaces are now equipped with fresh paint, modern lighting, finished flooring, and glass panels. …
A major focus of our renovation is improving circulation and access around the new Museum. Along with the addition of 50% more gallery space, we’re also adding new stairs, elevators, and corridors to connect old and new spaces together. Here, a bright orange safety net covers the side of a new passenger elevator shaft in …
Fall semester at Yale is in full swing! Though students only returned to campus a few weeks ago, areas of the new construction are wrapping up after many months of work. One of our first milestones is the completion of shared staff and administrative space on the 4th floor of the new Museum. This bright …
Summer may be nearing its end, but construction progress is hotter than ever! In June, the wooden ‘Glulam’ beams above the Central Gallery were completed, and recently paired with a water-tight glass ceiling to encapsulate the new room. This milestone ensures better climate control during construction and enables an array of finishing work to proceed …
Come inside the Peabody renovation as we transform the Museum from top to bottom. We’ve taken our historic structure down to bare walls to build it back better than ever. Our dioramas and murals will remain unchanged, but we’re remounting all of your favorite fossil specimens and bringing new objects out of our collections and …
The Glulam (glue-laminated timber) beams that will hover above our new Central Gallery have been installed. They’ll support the massive Archelon and Tylosaurus specimens that will be suspended above visitors’ heads when we reopen in 2024. And our new tower just needs its windows to complete that part of the north facade.
This week, the team at Research Casting International is busy working on our Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus specimens. We can’t wait to have these dinosaurs back in the Peabody’s Great Hall, and thanks to RCI’s talented staff they’re going to look better than ever. The first few photos feature blacksmith Nevin welding the Brontosaurus femur and …
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