The Burke Museum
 The Burke Museum is the oldest public museum in Washington State with a collection of over 16 million artifacts and specimens, ranging from totem poles and gemstones to dinosaur fossils. Because the Burke?s collection is so wide-ranging and continues to grow ? it is a collecting museum ? the new building needed to serve as a coherent, effective container that would allow for flexibility over time.
Photography by © Aaron Leitz
The building?s rational scheme holds the complexity of the Burke?s activities and collections, both now and into the future.
Large areas of glazing maximize transparency and expose the interior experience to the street to connect the Burke to the campus, landscape and city. The design further breaks down traditional museum barriers between public and ?back-of-house? spaces, integrating collections and research labs with traditional galleries and enabling visitors and the surrounding community to engage with the process of scientific discovery in a true working museum. A 24-foot-by-20-foot pivoting window wall continues this emphasis on transparency to literally open the Burke to the nature of a new outdoor courtyard.
Photography by © Aaron Leitz
At its core, the mission of the Burke is to help everyone ? curators, visitors, educators and students ? make a connection with our natural world in all its complexities. Dual entrances link the museum to both the University of Washington campus and the surrounding community.
The exterior K...