Naturalis biodiversity exhibit opens at The CubeHouse
BNP Paribas and Naturalis bring biodiversity to Amsterdam’s business district, the Zuidas
A healthy city is about more than clean air, green spaces and room to exercise. Equally important, though often overlooked, is a city’s biodiversity: the variety of plants, animals and ecosystems that helps keep our urban environment healthy, resilient and livable. This is true for Amsterdam and true for its busy business district, the Zuidas. Biodiversity matters everywhere.
On 2 July 2026, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, will open an interactive exhibition on the ground floor of The CubeHouse, a newly built, highly sustainable building in the Zuidas that is home to Naturalis’ strategic partner BNP Paribas. The central aim of our partnership is to bring the worlds of business and science together on the topic of biodiversity. With this exhibition, we’re doing that quite literally by putting a T.rex in the heart of Amsterdam’s business district and inviting everyone who works, lives or moves around the area to in and experience a eye-opening exhibition about biodiversity
Marcel Beukeboom, Managing Director of Naturalis: “The urgent challenges surrounding biodiversity require us to join forces and strengthen collaboration even further. Together with governments, businesses, and other organizations, we are building solutions based on scientific knowledge. The invitation from our partner BNP Paribas to realize an exhibition, lectures, and roundtable discussions in The CubeHouse offers Naturalis a unique opportunity to tell our story in the Zuidas. In doing so, we reach new audiences and bring our knowledge about biodiversity closer to the business community. In the Zuidas, where these themes may be less self-evident, we want to show just how immensely important the rich diversity and interconnectedness of nature are for our future.”
For Dagmar van der Plas, Head of Communication and Company Engagement at BNP Paribas, the exhibition reflects the role the company wants to play in its new neighborhood: “By partnering with Naturalis, we can make the science behind biodiversity tangible and relevant for the people around us – not as an abstract concept, but as something that is part of daily life and the city we share.”
Visitors will discover how ecosystems function, why biodiversity is essential, and what is at stake when species and habitats come under pressure. The exhibition also highlights concrete solutions and demonstrates what cities, companies and individuals can do to protect and strengthen biodiversity.
Biodiversity is also an important part of our work at BNP Paribas. As a financial institution, we finance economic activities that can affect nature and ecosystems, and help clients better understand and address nature-related risks and opportunities.
“Many clients want to engage with biodiversity but are still looking for practical ways to do so,” says Rado Georgiev, Strategic Sustainability Advisor at BNP Paribas. “What should they measure, and how can they integrate nature-related risks into their business decisions? By combining Naturalis’ scientific expertise with our role as a financial institution, we can better help our clients to make biodiversity part of financing and investment decisions.”
The exhibition will be located in the publicly accessible ground-floor space of The CubeHouse,. It has been made possible through the involvement ofNaturalis, BNP Paribas, a.s.r. real assets, Use/space and Arcadis, each contributing from their own expertise.
The exhibition opens on 2 July and is free to visit.
Curious to see it for yourself? Drop by the Parnassusweg 778 in Amsterdam from 2 July onwards to visit the exhibition. A giant T.rex skull – a replica of the the dino that attracts hundreds of thousands to Naturalis each year – is waiting to greet you!