Dynamic Earth

The exhibition was funded by the Millennium Commission in association with The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government as part of an urban regeneration project for former industrial land in the Holyrood area. The location was previously on a site which was latterly a gas-works and part of the old Holyrood Brewery. The brewers Scottish & Newcastle donated the site for public use in 1988, although the brewery did not vacate the site until the mid-1990s. The exhibition cost around £34 million to design and construct (out of a budget of £150 million for the entire area) and was the first major United Kingdom millennium attraction to open. Other exhibitions funded by the Millennium…

in the background.]] The building's structure consists of a steel mast-supported membrane stretched over a steel skeleton. It was designed by architects Michael Hopkins and Partners. The design incorporates the original wall that formed the outer perimeter of the Abbey Brewery ale stores that were formerly on the site. The building was intended to show a relationship between nature and artifice and comprises three features:

The facility is designed as an immersive experience with a high level of interactivity. Permanent features of the museum include an iceberg, an earthquake experience and the Deep Time Machine which allows visitors to travel through the creation of the Earth through multimedia and 4D techniques. The venue also is home to a digital 360° Planetarium. In an interview with the Press & Journal, former chief executive of Dynamic Earth John Simpson, said: “The new equipment will offer visitors an amazing experience within our ShowDome and will inspire even more children and families about Earth and space sciences with an in-house planetarium and a mobile planetarium to reach families all over…