One of the great contradictions of the world’s largest conservatory is that whilst it lacks the timeless design and high-quality materials of traditional conservatories, it manages to retain the pioneering spirit of early orangeries and botanical gardens.
The development of the Eden Project in Cornwall started as a clay pit that had been excavated for nearly two centuries.
However, with the clay exhausted by the mid-1990s, Tim Smit and Jonathan Ball were inspired to create the ultimate botanical garden, inspired by work the former had done with The Lost Gardens of Heligan but on a significantly larger scale.
The goal was to create an interconnected series of domed orangeries that would each represent a natural biome teeming with life, alongside a botanical garden which hosted plants more native to Cornwall.
The idea of this interconnection was to represent the connection people have to nature and the importance of preserving this connection as much as possible.
Initially, the construction process was far from straightforward. Huge amounts of rain led to constant delays as the 43m litres of water needed to be regularly drained in order to continue construction of the hexagonal framework that would house the bubbled domed roof.
Unlike most conservatories, which are predominantly made of glass, the material used for the Eden Project was ethylene tetrafluoroethylene cells which were inflated to create a dome that appeared to be made of hundreds of bubbles.
Glass was initially proposed for the dome, but due to its sheer weight, it was considered to be impractical given the size of the project. ETFE was lighter and created a thermal blanket, allowing for the controlled biomes to be retained.
Interestingly, despite its size, the domes are self-supporting and thus do not need additional beams or supports, which is particularly breathtaking once people stepped inside and glanced upwards.
Whilst far from a conventionally designed conservatory, it does represent the conservation spirit and care for natural life that inspired many early structures.
