Through a series of images, architectural models and sketches, I have learned how the space left by the mining process, an arid and difficult to manoeuvre ‘moonscape’, has been manipulated and intervened by Smit and Grimshaw to produce the space we see today. The original plan for Eden was to produce the largest ‘lean-to’ greenhouse in the world and simply prop it against and wrap it around the contours of the pit. This idea gave way to the Geodesic Dome principle pioneered by Fuller, modelled on a series of large spheres intersected with the land to cleverly use the existing unnatural backdrop as an inner surface to grow the rainforest from. These domes presently stand as the largest examples of Geodesic dome structures in the world at 328 ft x 656 ft (oval).

The domes don’t even tell half the story of Eden, they cover only a fifth of the total area of the pit. The visitors centre at the entrance to the pit is a ’scimitar-shaped building’ nestled in the contours of the edge with the rear wall formed by rammed earth. The centre gives way to a view over the entire space as the tropics biome (the larger of the two) emerges. The entrance to the visitors centre is a ’street’ covered in tensile fabric which gives the indoor impression. The centre was the first building to be completed in the transformation, housing nearly 500,000 visitors who came to watch the biomes under construction and over 2 million visitors in Eden’s first year after opening. The space was primarily used as a cafe, shop and gallery but later was opened up into one large expanse to house an educational experience as well as the existing functions. (Pearman, Hugh. ‘The Architecture of Eden’ 2002)