Sir Norman Foster designed the main glasshouse for The National Botanic Garden of Wales, which opened in 2000. The 95m greenhouse is the largest of its kind in the world, with 785 panels of glass. Steel structural ribs suspend panels of glass with a soft curvature similar to his Canary Wharf entrance. The bulb protrudes from the green grass like a futuristic mound. The relationship between man-made and natural takes a twist, on this 568-acre site of man-made nature.
Also symbolic of man’s efforts to create green technology, the gardens aren’t able to financially support themselves. An annual £550,000 from Wales supports the gardens, and help pay for the more recent tropical greenhouse designed by John Belle in 2007.
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