AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2004, Page 82

Eden-verkefnið (1996 - 2001) var opnað almenningi áríð 2000 og fjölmiðlarnir tilnefndu það strax áttunda undur veraldar. (Mynd: EdenProject) /
The Eden-Project (1996-2001) was opened to the public in the year 2000 and the media at once labelled it the Eighth Wonder of the world.
(Photo: The Eden-Project)
With this in mind, Nicholas
Grimshaw designed two immense
lifebelts, 15,600 and 7,000 m2 each,
as the greenhouses of the rain for-
ests and the tropics. Each lifebelt
is made of a skeleton of stainless
steel tubes connected as a giant
Mecano made of 625 hexagonals.
The supporting structure is made of
three dimensional units in two lay-
ers, connected in a curve with 4000
connectors and more than 11,000
purlins. The larger dome is 200m
long, 55m wide and 55m tall.
The ETFE-film
The vast size of the hexagonals,
almost 11 m in diameter, made it
impossible to use one sheet of glass
to cover them. In their research
into light and strong materials the
architects discovered that the ethyl-
tetrafluorethylene (ETFE) film was
well suited for the job. This industrial
material, common in pumps and
in chemical and electrical equip-
ment, lets through UV light, does
not shrink in sunlight, has good
insulation properties compared to
glass and is ten times lighter. The
film, although suseptible to tear, can
easily be repaired with tape from
the same material, can be recycled,
is self-cleaning and can carry 400
times its weight - it is strong enough
to support a fully grown man.
ETFE was clearly a suitable mate-
rial to form a kind of a cushion
which could be placed inside the
hexagonals and adjusted to the dif-
ferent volume of the lifebelts. The
film is made of three layers and in
it is low-pressure air obtained and
maintained by solar energy. The life-
time of 25 years of the material was
taken into account in the design so
that it could easily be replaced with
further development of new technol-
ogy.
To reclaim Nature, which had
been lost during the mining opera-
tion, Grimshaw had shown the pos-
sibility to use sunlight as the main
source of power to heat the domes
and to make use of rainwater as a
water supply. In addition he used
recycled aluminium, timber from cul-
tivated woods, and recycled paper
for insulation. For the walls, cages of
stainless steel wire filled with locally
crushed stone were used. These are
all materials which reduce demand
for limited natural resources. Direct
social connections were also
encouraged through working with
companies that produce ecological
food, clean perfumes and recycled
materials.
The Eden-Project keeps on devel-
oping: A new information centre on
resources will open in the spring
of 2005, a dome for dry tropical
vegetetion will be built in the near
future and a new reception building
has been designed at the entrance.
A unique initiative and knowledge
has led to a new type of building
that contributes to the equilibrium
between Nature, tourism and the
economy. As Buckminster Fuller is
often quoted: “There is no power
crisis, only ignorance crisis.” ■
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