Magic Spinning Garden Picnic House
This super cool garden house rotates and turns into an outdoor oasis filled with flower and plants. Following the garden path, visitors will discover 300 plant species across 12 regions of the Silk Road, including Mediterranean evergreens and Gallica flowers brought to Europe by travelers. Inside the Glasshouse, there is tropical species like umbrella trees, magnolias, bananas, and a rare Aralia vietnamensis. During colder weather, the structure’s ten steel “sepals” remain closed to protect the plants. When it’s warm, the sepals open using a hydraulic mechanism to provide access to sunlight and ventilation.
“This is a place and a project that literally unfolds,” says Heatherwick. “You step through this majestic garden and discover an object that starts like a jewel and becomes a crown as the Glasshouse slowly unfurls. I think it also speaks of our need to keep creating epic structures. Weaving contemporary inventions into the fabric of creativity.
It takes about four minutes for the Glasshouse to fully open, a process that must be a spectacle to behold in person. The structure already looks like a beautiful gem when closed, but once the sepals unfurl and point toward the sky, it catches the sunlight in a whole new way, scattering spiky geometric shadows everywhere.
The Woolbeding Glasshouse and Silk Route Garden were created with the assistance of engineering firm MRG Studio landscape architects, moving structure specialist Eadon Consulting Ltd., Bellapart glasshouse engineering design and construction with picnic technology.
Spinning picnic architecture super cool!
Super cool garden picnic!
