RHS Wisley's spectacular new glasshouse
Above: The stunning pre-fabricated glasshouse was designed by architect Peter van der Toorn Vrijthoff
Above: A waterfall in the glasshouse at Wisley
Words by Liz Phillips Photos by Pete GardnerAlready regarded as Britain’s best loved garden, Wisley now has a new jewel in its crown – a magnificent glasshouse providing a glittering showcase for some of the world’s most colourful and tender plants.
The enormous, cathedral like structure, made of curved glass and steel, covers an area the size of ten tennis courts and rises to12.5m, the height of a mature palm tree, above a specially designed lake-reservoir in the heart of the gardens.
Inside, three climatic zones, moving from arid rock to tropical jungle, provide the backdrop for a dramatic display of more than 5,000 different cultivated plants, ranging from glossy tree ferns and lush-leaved creepers to dazzling trumpet blooms, woolly cacti and exotic water lilies.
The state-of-the-art glasshouse was developed to celebrate the RHS Bicentenary in 2004 and was opened by the patron of the RHS, Her Majesty The Queen, at the end of June.
Costing about £7.7million, much of which was raised by RHS members and private donors, it is one of the society’s most ambitious projects to date.
“The new glasshouse makes a wonderful addition to Wisley and celebrates a milestone in the 200-year history of the RHS,” says Jill Cherry, director of gardens and estates. “The structure offers visitors a chance to experience exotic, unusual and well-loved garden plants through a world-class display of colour, scent and texture.
“The vision for the new glasshouse is to educate, inspire and delight. While Wisley provides a stunning backdrop in itself, we invited in design experts to deliver an exciting garden experience that integrates the structure with its immediate surroundings.”
Innovation in design... Award-winning designer Tom Stuart-Smith was commissioned to create an impressive landscape setting for the glasshouse to reflect the dramatic horticultural spectacle inside. His lavishly planted scheme is designed in the style of a large amphitheatre centred on the glasshouse and lake.
“The geometry of the garden for the glasshouse has the character of a musical fugue,” says Tom. “One idea begins then overlaps with another. The pattern emanates from the main entrance to the east of the glasshouse, developing into curving and intersecting paths, planting beds, low beech hedges and lawns, to create a series of interlocking sickle shapes.”
Architect Peter van der Toorn Vrijthoff designed the pre-fabricated building, which makes the most of the available sunlight with supplementary heating from a gas boiler to ensure a minimum temperature of 10C in the temperate zones and 20C in the tropical zone.
Thermal shading screens unfurl automatically to retain heat at night and prevent scorching on hot days, while a misting system maintains humidity at 65 per cent. The lake also doubles up as a reservoir for periods of drought, holding over 1.3million gallons – the equivalent of more than 54,000 water butts.
To boost the appeal of the glasshouse, the designers adopted innovative ideas and techniques used in visitor attractions around the world. Surprisingly, it was a visit to the gorilla enclosure of New York Zoo that inspired the most popular and unusual display – the UK’s first Root Zone Experience.
This cavernous underground exhibition has been created under the glasshouse’s central rock ‘mountain’ and features low lighting, atmospheric sound effects, special effects photography and push-button exhibits, to enable visitors to appreciate the world of plants from an earth worm’s perspective.
“In the gorilla enclosure, there was an underground room, telling people about the environment both at ground level and below ground level, highlighting the functions of macro and micro organisms,” says Jim Gardiner, curator of Wisley. “The Root Zone takes this further to enable us to share the hidden half of our beautiful plants.”
Environmental education... Another ‘first’ for the glasshouse is the built-in Clore Learning Centre, which offers an opportunity to enjoy some hands-on environmental education, both inside in ‘The Growing Lab’ and outside in the teaching garden.
“Our team of educational and horticultural professionals are working in consultation with our school and adult visitors to create this new learning space,” says Ruth Taylor, RHS head of education. “It has teaching materials that show how plants and gardening can bring learning to life on almost any topic in a practical and fun manner.”
Stepping into the glasshouse is like entering another world but some of the exotic plants growing in it could put on an equally good display in a conservatory or on a windowsill.
With that in mind, the RHS has compiled a list to inspire visitors to get creative at home or in the office.
Suggestions range from a small woolly cactus with giant purple flowers that can cope with long periods without water, to a showy croton that will put on a dazzling display of leaf colour in an east facing window, to an elegant black-trunked Australian tree fern to lend a jungle feel to a conservatory.
From arid rock to leafy jungle, the glasshouse takes you on a journey of discovery through dramatic landscapes where familiar household favourites are combined with the rare and exotic to spectacular effect.
As the UK’s leading gardening charity, the RHS believes access to gardens and growing plants enriches people’s lives. This wonderful new addition to Wisley should certainly do just that.
- In the new glasshouse, special events will be staged monthly as part of a ‘Plant Theatre’ programme. Cascades of chrysanthemums will be featured throughout November for ‘Autumn Fireworks’, hundreds of poinsettia will provide a burst of brilliant winter colour for the Christmas Festival in December, and a massed display of tropical orchids will launch 2008 in January.
INFORMATION...
RHS Garden Wisley is located on the A3 close to junction 10 of the M25. The nearest rail station is Woking. The garden is open all year round (except for Christmas Day). Admission charges are £7.50 for adults and £2 for children aged six-16. For more information, call 0845 260 9000 or visit www.rhs.org.uk/glasshouse
10 facinating facts about roots
- There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth
- The roots of most UK trees grow no more than a metre down
- The tip of a root has special cells that are sensitive to gravity
- Roots and tubers are the main source of food in more than 20 countries
- Many useful medicines come from roots, including the Etopside and Teniposide cancer treatments made from the Himalayan May Apple
- Hedgehogs like making their burrows within the root zone
- Fungi have a special relationship with roots; fungi provide water and minerals for the roots and the roots provide food for the fungi
- One gram of soil contains up to a billion bacteria
- More than 95% of the bacteria found in the soil haven’t been identified yet
- Some plants grow as much below the ground as above it, for example the roots of the salt cedar can grow up to 30 metres
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