The Eden Project
A Cornish clay pit so barren it was written off as a wasteland now holds the largest indoor rainforest in the world, under a roof lighter than the air inside it.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- Bodelva, near St Austell, Cornwall
- Opened
- Biomes opened to the public in March 2001; the site was officially opened in 2001 after building began in 1998
- Founder
- Sir Tim Smit, with architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw
- Site
- A former china clay pit, about 60 metres deep
- Rainforest Biome
- Around 55 metres tall, 100 metres wide and 200 metres long
- Structure
- Steel frames holding hexagonal panels of ETFE, a lightweight plastic foil
- Mediterranean Biome
- Home to olive trees, vines and plants from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California
- Charity
- Run by the Eden Project Trust, an educational charity and social enterprise
A hole in the ground that became a garden
The Eden Project sits in a pit where china clay was dug for around 160 years. By the 1990s the clay had run out, and what was left was a sheer-sided quarry floor of bare rock, with little soil and a tendency to flood. That is the point of the place. Tim Smit, the music producer turned garden restorer who had already brought the Lost Gardens of Heligan back to life, saw a dramatic bowl in which to tell the story of people and plants. Work began in 1998, and the first visitors came in 2000, while the great Biomes were still being finished.
Why the roof is made of bubbles
The two huge Biomes look like a cluster of glass soap bubbles, but they are not made of glass. The panels are ETFE, a transparent foil plastic, laid in hexagonal cushions that are inflated with air in layers. The material is extremely light, and it lets in ultraviolet rays that glass would block, which plants appreciate. Nicholas Grimshaw's design is based on geodesic geometry, in which hexagons and pentagons spread the load across a steel frame. The result is a structure that weighs less than the air it encloses. It also suited the awkward site. The Biomes could be built to follow the curves of the quarry floor instead of needing a flat platform.
Two climates under one roof
The Rainforest Biome is a tropical jungle, kept warm and humid, with a waterfall, bananas, rubber trees, coffee, cocoa and towering trees reaching up towards the roof. A walkway climbs high into the canopy. It is billed as the largest indoor rainforest in the world. Next door, the Mediterranean Biome is cooler and drier. It holds olives, vines, citrus and the scented plants of warm, sunny coasts, mixed with plants from South Africa and California. Outside, in the open air, a third area presents the plants of a temperate climate, including tea, lavender, sunflowers and hops.
Soil from nothing
Growing anything in a clay pit meant making the ground from scratch. The team created soil by mixing waste from the china clay industry with composted green waste and bark. Many thousands of tonnes were brought in to fill the pit's floor. Water is a constant problem in a hole, so the site collects rainwater that runs into the bottom of the quarry and uses it to flush toilets and irrigate the plants. This kind of practical recycling is central to what the project wants visitors to take away.
More than plants: concerts, ice and a giant bee
Eden has become a venue as well as a garden. The Eden Sessions concert series, started in 2002, has drawn major artists to play in the quarry bowl, using the walls as a natural amphitheatre. In winter, an ice rink appears. The Core, an education centre opened in 2005, takes its design from the spiral pattern found in sunflower heads and pine cones, known as phyllotaxis. Its sculpture, Seed, is a huge granite and steel piece weighing around 70 tonnes. The project also attracted crowds from the start. Within a few years it had become one of Cornwall's most visited attractions and is often credited with helping to revive the local economy around St Austell.
What to look out for when you go
Walk down into the pit rather than looking from above only: the first view of the Biomes, glinting against the quarry walls, is the best. Look closely at the cushions on the roof, and at the sculptures made from recycled materials dotted around the grounds. Inside the Rainforest Biome, head to the top of the canopy walkway, where the heat is strongest. Keep an eye out for the hand-made signs and the gardeners at work, because plants here are replaced, pruned and tended all year. And remember what the site was. Every green leaf in the bowl is growing on what was once an industrial scar.
Notable people
- Sir Tim Smit
- Sir Nicholas Grimshaw
- Jonathan Ball
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