Building work on the new £78m Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum in London has been completed.
It took just over two years to complete the 180,000sq ft (16,700sq m) centre, which is on course to open to the public in September 2009.
The central feature of the Darwin Centre is a 65m-long, 8-storey high cocoon, which will be home to 20 million insect and plant specimens. More than 3km of cabinets are now waiting to be installed in the cocoon, which will be act as a workplace for museum scientists as well as a discovery centre for visitors.
A live communications space called the David Attenborough Studio is also part of the new wing, which is the result of a partnership between the museum and the BBC.
Director of the Natural History Museum, Dr Michael Dixon, said: "Until now, most of our science has been going on behind the scenes. At the Darwin Centre, we will show the public more of both our vital research, and our internationally important collections."
