Whiteshell Museum

Located on the gentle banks of Nutimik Lake, the Whiteshell Natural History Museum is nestled within the stunning natural beauty of boreal forest, with a creek meandering by. The museum opened in 1960 within a log cabin built around a stone hearth and chimney. Replete with historical accounts of the indigenous people who first lived in the area, as well as displays of the local flora and fauna, the original museum became a cultural icon, with the rustic design of the building contributing as much to its charm as the artifacts themselves.

The design of the revitalized Whiteshell Natural History Museum maintains the charm of the original structure, in part, by keeping the focus on its central feature – the stone hearth and chimney. By removing the old cabin from the premises and giving the chimney more prominence on the site, the designer was able to introduce a new aesthetic to the space, creating an outdoor pavilion that bridges the old and the new. As visitors to the museum enter the space, they encounter the old stones of the hearth and chimney, now clad in a weathering steel shroud, with its patina of rust that shines in the sunlight streaming through the branches of the surrounding trees. This tower of stone and steel is encircled and supported by five slender pine posts and a weathering steel tensile ring, all connected by cables to the chimney shroud itself.