Inatura


The Inatura Natural Spectacle is an interactive natural history museum in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg. It originated in 2003 from the former "Vorarlberger Naturschau" and was set up on a former factory premises in the new Dornbirn Stadtgarten.

History

It is one of the three provincial museums in Vorarlberg and is considered the largest and most modern nature museum in the region of Lake Constance. The museum includes a documentation center about the nature of Vorarlberg as well as an interactive exhibition.

Architecture

Originally, the property was used as a turbine and hydropower factory by Josef Ignaz Rüsch from 1827 until the plant was closed in 1984.
In 1999, the sponsors of the "Vorarlberger Naturschau", the city of Dornbirn and the state of Vorarlberg decided to launch the new nature exhibition together with the project partner F.M. Hämmerle Holding AG to be built on the Rüsch-Werke site. This decision was a commitment to the preservation of industrial architecture and to the public use of the area.
Inatura's contemporary complex of building was designed by the architecture firm HK Architekten and completed in 2003. Three main additions were made to the existing buildings: a technical room, storage rooms and offices in the old turnery workshops, the showrooms between the turnery and the foundry, and offices and exhibition space in the new foundry.