natural history museum of utah

I have always loved natural history museums.  as a geology major at the university of utah i went to the old natural history museum for a homework assignment.  I found myself reading every sign and placard in the museum.  my favorite section was always the rocks, minerals, and gems.  the old museum on president's circle was nice, but drab compared to the museum's collections.  I was excited when i heard the university was building a new museum above research park.  The site of the building is breathtaking.  The architecture of the building complements the view nicely.  

The building was designed by Ennead architects, a firm i have never heard of.  It reminds me a lot of  dominus winery and the de young museums both designed by herzog and de meuron because the facades are meant to blend into the landscape.  They also used copper on the exterior similar to the de young museum.  

 I couldn't get a good picture of the facade, but you can find one via google.

 amazing view of the salt lake valley

 baby stephen slept in the stroller most of the time!  it was wonderful.

 this  may or may not be evidence of evolution....

 i loved that the museum storage had glass walls so we could view the amazing items not on display.

 glass floors in the dinosaur exhibit.

so cheesy.