Eden Project England, Cornwall Geodesic Domes Building Photos, Cornish Architecture Design

The Eden Project Buildings

Cornish Geodesic Domes, southwest England design by Grimshaw Architects, UK

24 Jul 2017

Eden Project launches new international company

The Eden Project announce that it is launching a new company to drive the establishment of Edens around the world.

image courtesy of architects

Eden Project International Designs

9 Jun 2013

The Eden Project Rainforest Aerial Walkway

The Eden Project takes to the heights with a new Rainforest Aerial Walkway

Design / Project Team: Blueforest, SKM, Buro Happold, Ward Williams Associates and EaseManage

Snaking through the treetops of the world’s largest indoor jungle, the much-anticipated Rainforest Aerial Walkway is rapidly taking shape at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The spectacular walkway is opened to the public in a series of special preview tours that started on June 6 and run until June 26. An Eden Narrator will give those on the tour an overview of the Walkway and talk about the stages still to come.

The view from the Eden Project’s new Rainforest Aerial Walkway:

photo from The Eden Project

The visitor journey begins at the Rainforest Basecamp, which sets the scene for the walkway experience. The Basecamp provides an introduction from the perspective of the people who live in the rainforest and from the canopy scientists who work there. From the upper level of the Basecamp visitors will get their first spectacular views over the canopy.

An aerial walkway high above the forest floor leads visitors to the Nest: a platform with fabulous views out through the treetops. Art exhibitions are currently being created, with public participation, to bring the story of the rainforest’s biodiversity to life. A second aerial walkway takes the visitors further through the canopy to a cliff path nestled in the back wall of the Biome.

Eden is working with the Sensory Trust to make the experience great for visitors of all ages and abilities. The aim is for the first phase of the Rainforest Aerial Walkway to be open to visitors next month (June).

The Eden horticulturalists are working on new plant exhibits and landscaping to accompany the installation. During the build the Rainforest Biome has remained open to visitors so they can watch first-hand as the infrastructure develops.

The first phase of the walkway has been made possible thanks to the generous support of a number of foundations and individuals, including the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation and donors to the Eddie George Memorial Appeal.

Dr Jo Elworthy, Eden’s Director of Interpretation, said: “A piece of primary forest – the size of Eden’s vast indoor jungle disappears in the wild every ten seconds. Rainforests help keep us alive wherever we live. Addressing the challenge (including how the story is told) needs a fresh approach.

“Once you have visited the rainforest it changes you forever, fuelling a desire to care. Not everyone has that opportunity so we decided to grow a rainforest right here in Cornwall, UK. Now, 12 years after we opened, our forest has grown and is reaching for the sky. At last, we have been able to start to build the walkway and, with you all, take to the trees.”

Fundraising continues and plans for the second phase of the walkway are already underway. Once funded, Eden will build on the experience reaching further into the treetops to take visitors to the Weather Station, an artistic installation which will enable intrepid explorers to discover how rainforests control the world’s climate and experience and measure weather. The Met Office are working with the Eden Project on this phase.

image from FD

Subsequent phases will include a Fruit Bar in the treetops, exploring ways of supporting livelihoods in the forest through rainforest-friendly products, and a Field Station where visitors will be able to discover ways in which they can help look after the rainforests of the world.

The Walkway design and project team comprising Blueforest, SKM, Buro Happold, Ward Williams Associates and EaseManage have worked hand in hand with the Eden Project team to bring the project to life.

The preview tours take place at 10.30am, 11.30am, 1pm, 3pm and 4pm from June 6 to June 26 and are free of charge. They can be booked by calling the Eden box office on 01726 811972 or, if space is still available, on the day at the information desk in the Link building between the Biomes.

The Eden Project Rainforest Aerial Walkway image / information from The Eden Project

The Eden Project

The Eden Project is the largest plant enclosure in the world, built in the lightest and most ecological way possible. The project is situated in a 15-hectare landscaped site, formerly a worked-out Cornish clay pit. Four phases have been completed to date.

Eden Project photo © SealandAerialPhotography

The focus of the Eden Project is a sinuous sequence of 8 inter-linked geodesic domes threading around the site, encapsulating Humid Tropic and Warm Temperate regions. The biomes are an exercise in efficiency, both of space and material. The cladding panels – triplelayered pillows of high performance ETFE foil – allow maximum light transmission and minimum structure due to their exceptionally low weight.

The biomes were completed in 2001 – a year after the Visitors’ Centre was finished. This building is a working showcase for methods of building with low impact on the environment: green roofing; gabion walling; rammed earth construction and timber cladding. During its first six months of opening, it attracted over half a million visitors to its showcase ‘Big Build’, which offered views of the construction of the biomes from its panoramic galleries.

In 2002 Grimshaw completed phase three, the Foundation building. It was built to accommodate the increase in staffing levels, a direct consequence of Eden visitor numbers exceeding projections by 200%. The design meets extremely high sustainability targets. Under BREEAM for Offices 2002, it achieved a rating of ‘Excellent’.

Eden Project photo © Grimshaw

The fourth phase of the Eden Project, the Core, is an education centre completed in 2005. Designed with the sculptor, Peter Randall-Page, the building is in itself an expression of the geometric principles of plant growth, and represents a true collaboration between all members of the client, design and construction teams.

A fifth phase, The Edge, is currently in design. It will contain plant life from the Dry Tropics alongside a series of permanent and temporary exhibits on climate change and other environmental issues

Eden Project Cornwall – Building Information

GRIMSHAW
EDEN PROJECT PHASE 2
Humid Tropics and Warm Temperate Biomes and Link Building
Project: The Eden Project Phase 2: Humid Tropic and Warm Temperate Biomes
Location: Cornwall, England, UK
Area: 23,000m2
Contract Value: £57m
Design start date: 05/1996
Site start date: 10/1998
Completion date: 03/2001
Client: The Eden Project Ltd

Eden Project Biomes (no larger image)
Eden Project building
image from RIAS May 2002

Address: The Eden Project, Bodelva, St Austell, Cornwall, UK PL24 2SG

Project Team
Company Chairman – Nicholas Grimshaw
Director – Andrew Whalley
Associate Director – Jolyon Brewis
Senior Associate – Vincent Chang
Associate(s) – David Kirkland, Michael Pawlyn
Team members – Perry Hooper, Bill Horgan, Oliver Konrath, Juan Porral – Hermida, Jason Ahmed, Vanessa Bartulovic, Dean Boston, Chris Brieger, Amanda Davis, Florian Eckardt, Alex Haw, Angelika Kovacic, Quintin Lake, Richard Morrell,
Tim Narey, Monica Niggemeyer, Martin Pirnie, Mustafa Salman, Killian O’Sullivan, Debra Penn, Tan Su Ling
Structural Engineer Anthony Hunt Associates
Services Engineer Ove Arup & Partners
Quantity Surveyor Davis Langdon & Everest
Project Manager Davis Langdon Management
Main Contractor McAlpine Joint Venture
Landscape Architect Land Use Consultants
Planning Supervisor Aspen Burrow Crocker
Fire Consultant Arup Fire
Cladding Consultant Arup Façade Engineering
Access Consultant Purcell Miller Tritton
biome superstructure Mero UK plc