Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Scotland - botanical glasshouse

This is the first glasshouse to be built in the Botanic Garden for over thirty years and the only one in Britain dedicated to growing alpine plants in a tufa rockscape. 

Significant technical expertise was required in the design phase of this project. The success of the finished scheme was dependant on exacting engineering standards.  This simple looking structure represented a complex engineering challenge. The interplay of the structural elements produces an attractive and visually fascinating structure.

The key design drivers were to respond to the exacting living conditions of these plants and to provide an iconic structure which would act as a landmark in its own right.  

Alpine plants naturally grow in cold, windy and dry conditions with an abundance of daylight. The glass umbrella modifies the microclimate by providing shelter from excessive rain and increasing wind speed at ground level while transmitting maximum light. Its shape evokes flowers opening to the sun and the angular mountain tops so prevalent in alpine settings.