History

Our Dynamic Earth is the centrepiece of a major urban regeneration plan, named the Holyrood project. Built on the former site of the Scottish & Newcastle Brewery and British Gas works, the land was gifted to the people of Edinburgh on the condition that it would be used to create a landmark building to host an exhibition that was in the public good.

With considerable funding coming from the Millennium Commission, and further sponsors including Edinburgh City Council and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothians, it was decided that the exhibition would be based on a concept that was appropriate to Edinburgh - its landscape and history: an exhibit that would tell the story of the evolution of the planet we live on, Our Dynamic Earth.

Background to the exhibition

The landscape of Edinburgh shouts out about the processes that formed it. It is a landscape formed by ice and fire – the volcano of Arthur’s Seat and the ice of the last glaciation that shaped the hills and the valleys including our crag and tail creation now know as the Royal Mile.

Edinburgh was also the home of James Hutton, regarded as the founder of modern geology, who wrote his “Theory of the Earth” after studying rocks on Arthur’s Seat in 1788. By investigating and examining the rocks on Salisbury Crags his conclusions gave us the concept of the enormity of geological time, and suggested that the age of the Earth was far greater that that suggested by Archbishop Usser who thought the world was created on the evening prior to the 23rd October 4004BC.

With this local history and revolutionary thinking as a backdrop it was thought very appropriate to create an exhibition that explained the processes and evolution of life on Earth next to the location that Hutton had done the very same almost 200 years previously. Hence the concept of Our Dynamic Earth was born.

The exhibition

The exhibition is not a conventional science centre. The story that we are telling is a linear story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Consequently the exhibition has been set out with a linear structure.

Visitors are taken on a voyage of discovery. Starting in present day the visitors recognise that our world is very dynamic place. Climbing aboard the time machine, their journey continues back in time to witness the big bang, the creation of the planets, then in particular the structure of Earth through the movement of plate tectonics and glaciers. Next on their journey of discovery they follow the evolution of the species passing through three major extinctions patterns, discovering who were the biggest winners and losers on the fight for survival. Coming back to present day, their voyage of discovery now takes visitors across our planet exploring the different extremes, from the oceans, to the polar regions through to the savannah grasslands, desert and tropical rainforest. Visitors finish their journey in the FutureDome to investigate just what the future of our planet might be, and how we as humans can make a difference in what lies ahead for our dynamic planet.

Much of the learning in Dynamic Earth is experiential with the exhibition full of provocative smells, dramatic sound effects and stunning visuals. Interactivity is an important element of the exhibition with a variety of interactives, both computer-based and mechanical around the galleries aimed at both children and adults that help reinforce the messages of the galleries.

Our striking building

Edinburgh's much-admired urban character comes from a balance between nature and artifice, between the geology of its magnificent setting and the way generations of architects have refined its topography to create one of Europe's most elegant cities.

Michael Hopkins and Partners added to the tradition with the creation of the Dynamic Earth exterior. Its smooth, flowing curves and taut, minimal cables and masts offset the rugged majesty of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags.

Sir Michael Hopkins' design helps visitors to relate to the grandeur of natural forces which the exhibition illustrates to the species of the site and its human history. It comprises three main parts: the fabric roof and its structure, a main two storey building which contains the exhibition, offices and workshops, and a forecourt. The first makes a generous entrance pavilion which looks towards the hills and the city; although weather tight, its form and glass walls give the feel of an outdoor space. A hemispherical dome to a multi-media theatre bursts into the space, indicating something below. Two other structures rise into the pavilion, both containing staircases and lifts to the exhibition and retail facilities for visitors who might want to linger.

The two storey exhibition space is a black box to give ideal viewing conditions. Offices and workshops are on either side of it. An old wall which once formed the edge of a brewery is restored and extended to make the external wall of the black box, suggesting in microcosm Edinburgh's fruitful relationship between geology and human intervention. The third component is a monumental forecourt, the amphitheatre, a public space that adds to Edinburgh's legacy of generous civic design. Just as its neighbours the venerable Holyrood Palace and the new Parliament building use architecture to suggest political evolution, so Dynamic Earth uses architecture to connect natural history to human and civic life.

Building Costs: £39m

Construction Programme: August 1997 - June 1999