1.2 What do you think were the key problems faced by the designers in creating the new concept? In 1985 the Geological Museum merged with its neighbour, the Natural History Museum, in Cromwell Road, London. The merger was cemented in 1988 by the construction of new gallery space linking the two sites.

From the mid-1930s to the early 1990s the Geological Museum consisted largely of taxonomic displays of rocks, gems and minerals and was a place for quiet study of ‘rocks in boxes’ by specialist geologists. This contrasted sharply with the noisy, lively and enthusiastic atmosphere of its neighbour.