Amazon is currently constructing three glass 'spheres', which will contain treehouse meeting areas and around 3,000 species of plants. The design is by innovative design practice NBBJ. This will serve as the centerpiece for its new headquarters, set to open in 2018.
NBBJ
Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay - Singapore —
"You start to think of the plants as the clients, rather than some organization. You are trying to design something where the plants will flourish so you have to get everything right, particularly the amount of light, shade, temperature, humidity, etc. It requires a lot of research," said Jim Eyre, a founding director of WilkinsonEyre.
Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay - Singapore —
In 2006, WilkinsonEyre was part of a British-led team that won the design competition for the masterplan for Singapore's Gardens by the Bay. Tasked with designing a horticultural attraction and showcase for sustainable technology, they created the Cooled Conservatory Complex. The two main conservatory structures are among the largest climate-controlled glasshouses in the world, covering an area in excess of 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet).
Bombay Sapphire Distillery - Laverstoke, England —
Opened to the public in late 2014, the new Bombay Sapphire Distillery by Heatherwick Studio straddles the River Test in the village of Laverstoke, England. Two intertwining botanical glasshouses are a highlight of the central courtyard -- one tropical and the other Mediterranean -- housing and cultivating the 10 plant species that give Bombay Sapphire gin its particularity.
Iwan Baan
Bombay Sapphire Distillery - Laverstoke, England —
Heatherwick Studio worked with a team from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to create the unique ecological environments required within the two structures. The glasshouses are made from more than 10,000 bespoke components.
Iwan Baan
Davies Alpine House, Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew, United Kingdom —
The project that arguably led to WilkinsonEyre winning their part in Gardens by the Bay was the Davies Alpine House at Kew Gardens. When it opened in 2006, it was the first new glasshouse to be constructed there for more than 20 years.
Davies Alpine House, Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew, United Kingdom —
Kew Gardens houses one of the most important iron and glass structures in the world. Designed by Decimus Burton and engineered by Richard Turner, it was built between 1844 and 1848 to accommodate the exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times. The engineering techniques to build with wrought iron were pioneering -- borrowing from the shipbuilding industry -- and from a distance the glasshouse is said to resemble an upturned hull. It was the first time that the large-scale use of this material was demonstrated.
Royal Botanic Garden, Kew
The Schönbrunn Palm House - Vienna, Austria —
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, this impressive structure in Austria consists of 5,000 sheets of glass and is the largest glass house in continental Europe. It is also the last of its type to be constructed on the continent. Its three pavilions contain different climate zones and are linked by tunnel-like passages.
Kurt Bauschardt
Bicentenary Glasshouse, Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley - Surrey, United Kingdom —
This huge structure, which opened in 2007, covers an area equal in size to 10 tennis courts and rises to 12 meters (40 feet) in height. It has three climatic zones, recreating tropical, moist temperate and dry temperate habitats.
Designed by architect Charles Lanyon and built by ironworker Richard Turner (who would go on to build the Palm House at London's Kew Gardens), it is one of the earliest examples of curvilinear cast iron glasshouses in the world.
Belfast Botanic Garden
Muttart Conservatory - Edmonton, Canada —
These modern glasshouses, iconic to the Canadian city, were designed by award-winning architect Peter Hemingway and opened in September 1976. Each of the four pyramids contains a different climate, collectively preserving and growing one of Canada's largest botanical collections.
Alan & Flora Botting
Bicentennial Conservatory, Adelaide Botanic Garden - Adelaide, Australia —
Another modern structure, this Australian glasshouse was built in 1988 by Guy Maron. The largest single-span conservatory in the Southern Hemisphere, it was built as part of the celebrations for the Australian Bicentenary.
Robin Smith/The Image Bank/Getty Images
Barbican Conservatory - London, United Kingdom —
The second biggest conservatory in London, the Barbican Conservatory has experienced renewed popularity in recent years. Open to the public, it is often used as a wedding venue and for various fashion shoots for the likes of Paul Smith, Rita Ora, Jean Paul Gautier and Agent Provocateur.
Lee Mawdsley
Palm House, University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden - Copenhagen, Denmark —
Of the 27 glasshouses in Copenhagen's Botanical Garden, the Palm House is the most famous. It was built by Carlsberg Breweries founder J. C. Jacobsen in 1874.
