Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research to get new home in 2014

Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 22 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's only natural history museum, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Science, will move into a new building by 2014.

This follows a S$25 million philanthropic gift from the Lee Foundation - the third substantial gift in six months.

In total, NUS said S$46 million was raised through the six month long fund raising effort.

The new purposed-built building to be named the 'Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum,' will be located adjacent to the University Cultural Centre along Kent Ridge Crescent.

It will showcase Southeast Asian biodiversity and environmental issues in an exhibition hall that will be 10 times the size of the current gallery.

NUS said a new round of fundraising efforts will kick off soon to equip the new museum with high-quality new exhibits for the galleries.

The team also hopes to develop a strong public programme.

The museum is the custodian of one of the earliest natural history collections in Southeast Asia.

The 160-year-old collection was inherited from the then Raffles Museum and Library at Stamford Road in the 1970s, after the museum was renamed the National Museum and refocused its attention on the arts and history.

Over the past 40 years, the collection has grown to more than 566,000 specimens.

Today, NUS said the museum is the leading biodiversity research centre in Southeast Asia.

- CNA/jm

$46m raised for natural history museum
Sum raised in 6 months exceeds $35m target; work on building at NUS campus to begin next year
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 23 Jul 10;

A NATURAL history museum is set to come up on the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus by 2014, to re-house the country's priceless collection of animal and plant specimens.

The 7,000 sq m building, to be built near the Clementi Road end of the campus, will be home to more than 500,000 specimens belonging to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR).

The fund-raising for the museum has proceeded far better than expected: $46 million was raised in six months, surpassing the target of $35 million.

The Lee Foundation weighed in with $25 million, adding to anonymous multimillion-dollar donations as well as about $1 million from the public.

For NUS biology professors Peter Ng and Leo Tan who are spearheading the plans, this dream has taken five years to realise. They were pleased to announce yesterday that, with the funds, the project can now proceed. Work will begin in the later half of next year.

The museum will be called Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, in honour of the Lee Foundation's donation. It will be built in Kent Ridge Crescent, where the Office of Estate Development now stands, with the University Cultural Centre and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music nearby.

The site is near established food outlets and car parks and is on a bus route, which will make the museum accessible.

The current RMBR site is buried away in NUS' Faculty of Science, among a maze of buildings.

Prof Ng, who is director of the RMBR, said: 'We've reached the first milestone. The Lee Foundation is particularly interested in the fact that this collection is part of our natural heritage, as we've had it for more than 100 years. We want to build a green building we can be proud of.'

Prof Tan, who chairs the RMBR fund-raising committee, said: 'When people see natural history, they can relate to it in an immediate way that they can't with abstract art, as we're all biological beings. It's a museum where three generations can come at once, as there are no barriers to appreciating it.'

As well as the fund-raising has gone, it is not over. The two professors estimate they will need another $10 million to create world-class exhibitions.

Their benchmark of quality is a recent ocean exhibition which cost US$35 million (S$48 million) to mount at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC - although the kitty here is unlikely to be that big.

Project manager Tan Swee Hee said the new exhibition space will include a section on Singapore's biodiversity, man and the environment, and a 'green' gallery on pro-environment efforts here.

The RMBR collection is so large that only 0.1 per cent of it can be on show at any one time at its existing home. The new museum will have at least 10 times the space.

HUMAN NATURE

'When people see natural history, they can relate to it in an immediate way that they can't with abstract art, as we're all biological beings.'

Prof Leo Tan, who chairs the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research's fund-raising committee

New home for Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in 2014
Mustafa Shafawi Today Online 23 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE - Singapore's only natural history museum, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (picture) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science, will move into a new building by 2014.

The new purpose-built building, to be named "Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum", will be located adjacent to the University Cultural Centre along Kent Ridge Crescent.

It will showcase South-east Asian biodiversity and environmental issues in an exhibition hall that will be 10 times the size of the current gallery.

NUS said a new round of fund-raising efforts will kick off soon to equip the new museum with high-quality new exhibits for the galleries. NUS had earlier raised $46 million through a six-month long fund-raising effort.

The museum is the custodian of one of the earliest natural history collections in South-east Asia.

The 160-year-old collection was inherited from the then-Raffles Museum and Library at Stamford Road in the 1970s, after the museum was renamed the National Museum and refocused its attention on the arts and on history. Over the past 40 years, the collection has grown to more than 566,000 specimens.

Today, the museum is the leading biodiversity research centre in South-east Asia, said NUS.