First, it retraces the evolution of the greenhouse from a place of nature propagation to a catalyst of interdisciplinary experimentation into new types of public urban spaces. Second, it examines the ways in which the incorporation of nature in built objects has spawned visionary design projects across the twentieth century by means of large span, glazed, vegetated environments.
Finally, it discusses the intersection of the greenhouse concept with theoretical discourses of architectural atmospheres and how this may promote new conceptualizations of and for the architectural project. In light of the pressing demands for environmental sustainability, it focuses a consistent attention on practices and theories which have promoted new forms of relationship between nature and artifice, inhabitants and building, human and non-human organisms, in connection to the design of the built environment.
Proliferating in the nineteenth century as plant nurseries, through examples such as the Great Conservatory at Syon Park and the Palm House at Kew Gardens , they fulfilled the fervent desire for new vegetal species cultivation, primarily for collection purposes, allowing for the development of innovative methods for their import, categorization and study Hix, ; Stein, Virts, Further to the cultivation of non-native rare plant species in the moderate temperatures of Northern Europe, they symbolized a multifaceted exchange of customs and cultural ideas.
Greenhouses, by means of uninterrupted surfaces of glass and vegetated interior spaces, hence emerged as a new type of public urban space, assuming a collective, shared dimension.
Greenery was included in an all-glass structure whose design, construction and maintenance oscillated between horticulture, architecture, and engineering, highlighting the emergence of a novel design field that considered issues of environmental management. The proposal of Joseph Paxton for an urban sanatorium, as part of a larger collection of winter park projects, is a suggestive example.
