East of Eden: the Eden Project's latest building takes a design cue from plant geometries.Given the success of the Grimshaw Eden Project The Eden Project is a large-scale environmental complex in Cornwall. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 1.25 miles (2 km) from the town of St Blazey and (AR August 2001), the spectacular 'biomes' which enclose a series of environments and associated plants and trees, the task of adding an education centre was challenging. The client, Tim Smit Tim Smit (born 1954) is a Netherlands-born British businessman, famous for his work on the 'Lost Gardens of Heligan' and the Eden Project, both in Cornwall, England. , expressed a tongue-in-cheek concern that the architect might suffer from 'second album syndrome', but is delighted by the result, which opened to the public last month. Called the 'Core', the [pounds sterling]15 million building has three functions: as education centre, with a mission to explain the vital role of plants in the eco-system; as exhibition venue for permanent features and temporary exhibits; and as a venue for public events. The heart of the project, an 80 tonne silver-grey granite sculpture by Peter Randall-Page, will be installed next year, but informed the architectural design This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details. This article has been tagged since September 2007. process from an early stage. Concepts based on a symmetrical structure were abandoned for a pattern of spirals, based on the Fibonacci series and phyllotaxis phyl·lo·tax·y also phyl·lo·tax·is n. pl. phyl·lo·tax·ies also phyl·lo·tax·es 1. The arrangement of leaves on a stem. 2. The principles governing leaf arrangement. (the mathematical basis for most plant growth), which will re-appear-in the sculpture that will sit almost hidden in the core of the Core. This is a building that not only provides the environment for explanation and celebration of nature, but is itself an example of what is being explained. Multiple entrances and lift provision means you never have to leave the Core using the route by which you entered--you are part of a cycle. It is of course a secondary building, given the size and impact of the neighbouring biomes, but one to which all the walking routes across the site direct you, and it is regarded as a fundamental element in the Eden Project rather than a conventional add-on. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Materials are inherent to the story. A timber lamella lamella /la·mel·la/ (lah-mel´ah) pl. lamel´lae [L.] 1. a thin leaf or plate, as of bone. 2. a medicated disk or wafer to be inserted under the eyelid. structure creates a striking roof, with a grid of timber panels (insulated with recycled newspaper). The roof, given emphasis by a 10 degree inclined facade, is clad with standing-seam copper panelling which will patinate pat·i·nate v. pat·i·nat·ed, pat·i·nat·ing, pat·i·nates v.tr. To furnish with a patina. v.intr. To acquire or become covered with a patina. Verb 1. over time, reflecting the effects of nature. Its relationship to water and weather is enhanced by the way it dips to ground level at three equidistant e·qui·dis·tant adj. Equally distant. e  qui·dis tance n. points, meeting concrete support feet which also provide for water drainage via spouts and hoppers. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Inside, different levels are used in different ways. The double-height ground floor, spacious enough for public events, has large exhibition features related to energy and photosynthesis. The middle level comprises four classrooms, that all have access to the exterior, and have separated ventilation and acoustic systems. These are well-lit, calm spaces. The top level has a cafe, and a circulation terrace allowing views down onto the Randall-Page sculpture (which can be seen internally but only via a circular corridor which will have its own exhibits panels), and Susan Derges photograms on clerestory clerestory or clearstory (both: klĭr`stōr'ē, –stôr'ē), a part of a building whose walls rise higher than the roofs of adjoining parts of the structure. glazing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Topography means that each floor of the building has a 'ground level', contributing to the feeling that the million-plus annual visitors to the building will feel part of a journey, part of the natural cycle examined within its walls, and a reflection of what Jo Redman, who runs the education programme, calls 'the plant engine that powers the world'. For Jolyon Brewis brew·is n. New England Bread soaked in liquid, usually milk, and eaten as a pudding or as a side dish with meat. [Middle English brewes, from Old French broez, pl. and Michael Pawlyn from Grimshaw, the project has been a labour of love, while for Peter Randall-Page, the biggest piece of his career will continue his fascination with the natural world and the mathematics and geometries which underlie it. The Core is more than an annexe an·nexe n. Chiefly British Variant of annex. annexe or esp US annex Noun 1. an extension to a main building 2. ; it is a piece in its own right. 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