Week 1: Preliminary Research

With this project being so open and there being such a wide range of opportunities and topics to research, I decided to keep an open mind, pick one point to research and document my train of thought and research as it branches off and I focus in on the main points that interest me. This will stop me from being overwhelmed and will also allow me to gain some initial ideas and get a better understanding of how I want to explore and interpret the site.

Because the Tropical and Cool houses are the main structures in the gardens and they were the aspect of the space that initially grabbed my attention, I decided that glasshouses would be a good place to start researching. I began with the history of glasshouses and found this diagram (see below).

It was very interesting to find out that although greenhouses/glasshouse were popularized in the mid to late 19th century the first known greenhouse was the Roman Greenhouse in 30 AD. While discussing this with my breakout group this week, we came to the conclusion that the Industrial Revolution played a massive part in this development of the structure. Because of the time and cost of glass making, glasshouses were very expensive to make but with the Industrial Revolution, materials became cheaper and faster to produce and the tax that had previously been on the purchase of glass was lifted.

Today, glasshouses don’t necessarily express wealth with most glasshouses being built for commercial production of produce or personal produce on a smaller scale. Most larger public glasshouses were constructed in the mid 19th century to early 20th century. It’s interesting to see the purpose behind the structures change over time and how this is possibly influenced by societal changes. In the Victorian Era when greenhouses became more popular, they were a sign of prestige and wealth whereas greenhouses built today are built more for their functionality in growing plants and supporting the hobby of doing so. But what does this mean for the Auckland Wintergardens. The gardens were built as part of an effort to make the domain more “desirable” and gentrify the area as well as a commemoration of the Industrial, Agricultural nd Mining Exhibition. Keeping with the theme of a symbol of wealth and prestige, these developments and “improvements” to the domain were in response to the area becoming more populated with the wealthy and to make it desirable for such people.

This idea of wealth and prestige symbolism and the gentrification with neglect to existing factors really interests me and is something I want to explore further in this project. These are very social and political concepts that surround greenhouses and the Wintergardens but they also make me think of their correlation to ecological notions. In the Victorian Era, glasshouses were a way to display and showoff exotic plants and therefore showoff wealth and status. The Wintergardens were a way to display and showoff a wide range of plants to alter, create and attract a new type of behavior and people that was deemed acceptable. The symbols that glasshouses and gardens stood for at that time were used to alter the intangible aspects of the public space. The plants and the way they were positioned in the space were a way to display a shared perspective of society.
This made me consider the change in purpose of the plants since that era like I had done with the glasshouse structure. What does placing plants in specific spaces do in today’s social climate? Why do we chose certain plants and why do we position them the way we do? What are the differences between the Victorian Era’s purposes and choices regarding plants in a designated space to our purposes and choices in 2021?

Many people, especially in urban environments, will have indoor plants. I am interested in the why, specifically the psychological and mental benefits plants have on people. I want to explore the connection we have to nature and revisit the purpose of glasshouses and the Wintergardens and reconfigure this in the existing space to better benefit today’s social climate and views.

While doing this preliminary research, I also wanted to explore some glasshouse examples and explore what I found interesting and intriguing about them.

The first glasshouse I looked into was the Palm House at the Kew Gardens.

What I found most interesting about this glasshouse was the interior in relation the large space and high ceilings.

What I find fascinating in this glasshouse is how engulfing the plant life in the interior is. Some glasshouse have wide open spaces or are clear overhead of plants which in its own respect can be stunning as it highlights the beauty of the architecture but also articulates a sense of disconnect and separation of different elements within the space. What I love about the Palm House specifically is that because of it’s architectural height, it allows multiple experiential levels. This allows people to move in a more organic (less linear) way through the space. Also, the way that the plants and trees are organized in an organically overwhelming way enables people to be enveloped by their surroundings and give a truer sense of being within and being a part of the organic space. I find that in most glasshouses the plants are organized in a very articulated and curated way that creates a stronger sense of viewer and the viewed rather than existing as one entity.

I also looked at Palmenhaus in Vienna, Austria.

What I really like about this glasshouse is the way the space is used. It was originally built for Austrian Emperors but has been changed to a place for people to dine with cafe’s, restaurants and bars while also still keeping some of its garden qualities. What I find the most interesting is the combination of spaces. It isn’t just an old greenhouse structure renovated into a series of bars and eateries, the organic quality of the glasshouse and plants still continues to infiltrate the space. I like how it gives it a sense of occupying the space rather than overtaking and repurposing the space. As I talked about previously, this glasshouse is a perfect example of the change of purpose of the space in relation to the social climate.

I also looked at some more contemporary approaches to glasshouses including the glasshouses at the Bombay Sapphire Distillery in Hampshire, England.

Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, these glasshouses were built in 2010 at a gin distillery in England. There are a couple of aspects that really interest me about this work. What first caught my attention was the structure itself. Heatherwick has really accentuated the curved framework sometimes found in parts of large traditional glasshouse structure. It is also interesting to see the similarities between these sculptural structures and gin balloon glasses.

What I love most about the shape of these glasshouses is how organic and flowing they are which also helps in depicting their purpose. Once I started researching this project I found that the glasshouses have a functional purpose for the distillery. They have been designed and installed in a way that they themselves will operate as gin distilleries and also will help in heating the buildings already on the site with the hot air that is produced during the process of distilling. Because of the heat, the glasshouses will also be home to a variety of tropical plants that are used to make Bombay Sapphire Gin. This glasshouse design not only creates a aesthetic attraction to the space, but it also operates as a functional part of the distillery, giving it a physical purpose in the space other than a place for people to come and look at tropical plants.

While researching these glasshouses I looked a Heatherwick’s portfolio of work which I found very interesting and intriguing. I would love to look into his work further and use it as inspiration as I find it mesmerizing. I’m not sure if I will necessarily use his work as inspiration for this project as I am still not sure where I want to take this yet but he is definitely a designer I will keep in mind for further reference.

Another modern glasshouse design I found intriguing was The Glass House by Santambrogiomilano in Milan, Italy.

Sanatambrogiomilano is a design company in Italy that works specifically with glass. They have designed a couple of glass houses, their first one being built in 2010. What I find so intriguing about this design is how the words glass and house are looked at more literally than a traditional glass house. Although the glass houses were built as a means of housing people instead of plants and the purpose of the space is almost opposite to that of traditional glasshouses in terms of privacy and public, they are still linked in terms they goals they are trying to achieve. Both Santambrogiomilano’s work and traditional glasshouses articulate a connection between person and nature.

Another fascinating design I found was a structure in the interior of the Bay South Garden in Singapore.

Unlike prior research, my interest in this design is more on the display of plants than the glasshouse structure itself. Having the plants on a vertical plane rather than a horizontal plane creates a wider range of experience as it forces the occupants eye to look up. This is something I have explored in previous projects and I find it quite interesting the how social climate and can influence the way we experience a space and how design decisions can alter or challenge the subconscious customs people display in a public space due to social expectations. Another interesting aspect if this design is the falling water. In many public gardens and glasshouses there is often a body of water, generally a pond. What I find particularly interesting about this design is the movement of water on a vertical plane and the sound effect this would create in the space. When I think of purposely designed public gardens, I associate it with the quiet. I like how this garden space incorporates organic sounds and although we can’t hear it, the image describes it well.

I am still not sure what approach I want to take for the project yet but I think this research has given me a lot to think about. I’m quite interested in the change of the purpose of the space as a result to social climate and what the Wintergardens mean today. This also relates to the differences and similarities of attitudes towards plants and nature between when the gardens were built and today.

Information Sources:
– http://grimsdyke.com/brief-history-victorian-glasshouse/
– https://hside.org/plants-improve-mental-physical-health/
– https://www.rimolgreenhouses.com/blog/the-first-greenhouses-from-rome-to-america#:~:text=According%20to%20Pliny%20the%20Elder,with%20transparent%20stone%20or%20mica.%E2%80%9D&text=According%20to%20Dave’s%20Garden.com%2C%20Greenhouses%20made%20it%20over,to%20America%20during%20the%201700s.
– https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/palmenhaus-austrian-greenhouse-restaurant
– https://inhabitat.com/curved-hot-houses-for-bombay-sapphire-harvest-heat-from-the-distillation-process/bombay-sapphire-distillery-thomas-heatherwick-4/
– https://www.beautifullife.info/urban-design/the-glass-house-by-santambrogio-milano/
– https://www.santambrogiomilano.com/about-us
– https://www.wilkinsoneyre.com/projects/cooled-conservatories-gardens-by-the-bay