Located in a remote woodland setting, the museum is mostly set below ground with retaining structure around two sides of the building and a green roof. There is one full height glazed wall looking out into the trees.

The building comprises an exhibition space, visitor entrance, café and facilities. Work included a new services trench from the existing estate to provide water, power and data connections.

The environmental strategy for the building made use of the below-ground structure’s inherent thermal mass combined with the natural shading provided by the woodland to create a thermally stable environment. The environmental conditions are tuned using a supply and extract ventilation system with heating and cooling, using a ground source heat pump as the energy source.