AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2004, Page 81

Þetta er einn af vinsælustu ferðamannastöðum á Englandi og meðal styrktaraðila er Evrópusambandið og Þúsundáraafmælisnefndin sem
ráðstafaði tekjum frá Lottóinu í Stóra Bretlandi til verkefnisins. (Mynd: EdenProject). / This is one of the most popular tourist destinations in
England. Among supporters are the European Union and the Millennium Committee who gave grants from the UK-Lottery to the project.
(Photo: The Eden-Project)
The Garden of Eden in
Cornwall, England eftirNicholasGrimshaw
Halldóra Arnardóttir, Art Historian and Javier Sánchez Merina, Architect.
We do not have to return to the pre-
historic hut to live in baiance with
Nature. The elegant high-technology
of the largest pleasure garden of the
worid is a schoolbook in ecology
and a model in the use of recycled
materials.
The Eden-project came about from
the need to show how the relation-
ship with Nature could be reclaímed
and how we could live with it.
To this end the British architect,
Nicholas Grimshaw, studied very
light supporting structures in order
to heal the wounds of landscape
after mining.
During the construction of the
Eden-project the collaborators of
Grimshaw developed a system
which measured its ecological
impact and the influence of the
supporting structure on vegeta-
tion, natural resources, the air and
the surrounding communities. This
resulted in the Grimshaw Architects
becoming the first large architectural
practice to meet the international
standard, ISO 1400 - it is a con-
firmation of the goal to protect the
environment and prevent pollution in
accordance with national and eco-
nomic needs.
The Grimshaw Architects have
now developed, as part of the
design process, their own system
of revision, called Environmentally
Viable Architecture, which measures
the impact of each project from the
start of the design process to the
finished building.
The Eden-Project
The founder of the project, Tim
Smit, is a Dutch anthropologist,
composer and music producer who
became known for the rebuilding
of the extraordinary “Lost Gardens
of Heligan’’ in Gornwall. These gar-
dens, which date originally from the
Victorian era and were exemplified
by primitive plants and novel meth-
ods of growing vegtables, had been
completely destroyed in 1990 dur-
ing a severe storm. Smit managed
to make the gardens sustainable
again and from that time they have
become the most visited private
gardens in Britain.
In 1996 Smit wanted to reach
a larger audience and commute
to it the importance of building a
stronger connection between Man
and Flora. He therefore founded the
Eden-Project, an extensive park with
thousands of plants from all corners
of the world and climates. This was
not meant to be an ordinary large
greenhouse or a theme-garden. The
main goal was to encourage visitors
to learn to find balance with Nature.
During his search for an appro-
priate location Smit found an area
near to St.Austell on the headland in
south-west England, warmed by the
Gulf Stream. This was a large, dis-
used clay-quarry equal to 35 football
pitches in size and 60 m deep. Smit
asked Nicholas Grimshaw to design
a supporting structure tall enough to
accommodate trees from the tropics
and wide enough to shelter plants
from the sunny Mediterranean.
Domes built on short-
lines
Because of the instability of the soil
and sharpness of the wound of the
mining, Grimshaw proposed a light
supporting structure on the surface
of the land. Like soap-bubbles, each
with its own climate, he designed
a row of eight domes in two rows,
each with four interconnected skel-
etons. In order to make the support-
ing structures as light as possible,
he worked with the shortline-grid
that the American designer, inventor
and environmentalist Buckminster
Fuller had patented towards the
end of the 40s. The shortline-rule is
based on connecting flat surfaces
to make curved forms. In this way
it is possible to cover a larger area
without interior supports than in any
other building. In addition it provides
endless possibilities for treatment
at the edges and as the support-
ing structure becomes larger, it
becomes relatively lighter and
stronger.
avs 81