Listen to the audio story from Annenberg Radio News:
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky today as Natural History Museum employees showed off the new addition still under construction, North Campus.
It doesn’t look like much now. But when it’s done, the 3 ½ acre area will serve as a new front yard for the museum and a new outdoor destination for museum-goers.
Don Webb works for Cordell Corporation and was involved with the master planning.
“There’s something really deliciously ironic about taking the natural history and putting it back out into nature,” Webb said.
The new addition will include gardens, ponds, streams and exhibits for butterflies, birds and bugs. The gardens will allow visitors to learn to plant their own gardens and will have flowers blooming year-round.
It’s funded in part by the County of Los Angeles and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Mia Lehrer headed up the landscaping design. She hopes this will give city residents an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the natural world, before walking through the actual museum’s doors.
“Connect Angeleno’s to the nature in the heart of the city, connect to the museum’s collection and connect to the museum’s research,” Lehrer said.
North Campus won’t be officially open until June of 2013 for the museum’s centennial celebrations. So if you’re eager to see the new landscape, you’re going to have to wait a little longer.
“Wait a second, there was an urban legend that there was a judge that was painting out graffiti,” Totten said. 
