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OFWe are pleased to say that our kinetic glasshouse at Woolbeding Gardens in Sussex has been shortlisted in the Building Beauty Awards.
The awards were set up in 2021 by the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, which has Lord Norman Foster as its president and celebrates excellence in architecture and the built environment.
The glasshouse is a functional structure that protects plants at the National Trust’s Silk Route Garden at Woolbeding. It is also designed to be a beguiling decorative feature, inspired in part by Victorian terrariums. It features ten kinetic steel ‘sepals’ and uses a bespoke hydraulics system, developed with structural engineers @eocengineers, to open and close them over four meditative minutes.
According to the Trust: “Architecture is the only art that none of us can avoid. Whether we spend much time thinking about architecture or not, we all consume it on some level, whether we live or work in a building, visit it, pass it by or just glimpse it on the morning commute. In a fractured world, it’s one of the last great shared experiences.
“And what we see affects our mood. Buildings have the power, at their best, to lift us up – at their worst, to depress us. Between one extreme and the other, the impact on our wellbeing can be considerable. So every one of us has skin in this game, and we all have a right to say what works for us.”
The winners will be announced on November 10.
Congratulations to all those nominated.
Film: Marcus Hawk
@officialheatherwickstudio
