"I asked for the eighth wonder of the world and I got it, declared Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, who has died at 85. In a Cornish china clay quarry, a cluster of geodesic domes resembling monumental soap bubbles enclose conservatories housing luxuriant plant eco-systems. Completed in 2000, it was one of Grimshaw's most ambitious and audacious projects, seemingly springing from the mind of a science fiction novelist rather than an architect."
"But however thrillingly futuristic Grimshaw's buildings appeared, they were grounded by an avid interest in engineering and craft, and how historic precedents could be transformed and adapted for the modern era. Instead of using glass for the Eden Project's domes, Grimshaw employed gossamer-light foil cushions. When passenger rail services through the Channel tunnel first began operating in 1994, the British end was marked by a new international terminus at London's Waterloo Station."
"Grimshaw conjured a radical reimagining of the Victorian iron and glass train shed that his 19th-century predecessors would immediately recognise. The inspiration for the roof's asymmetrical arched form, a design feat made all the more complex by being curved on plan, was the skeleton of a human hand. Intricately pin-jointed to accommodate the deflection imposed by trains, a glazed roof vault encased platforms in a delicately transparent cocoon. Underneath, a sleek, airport-style concourse whisked passengers up to the platform."
Nicholas Grimshaw, who died at 85, designed landmark high-tech buildings such as the Eden Project and the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo. The Eden Project occupies a Cornish china clay quarry and features geodesic domes of gossamer-light foil cushions enclosing luxuriant plant ecosystems. Grimshaw combined futuristic imagery with rigorous engineering, craft, and reinterpretation of historic forms. At Waterloo he reimagined the Victorian iron-and-glass train shed with an asymmetrical arched roof inspired by a human hand, using pin-jointed structure to accommodate deflection and a glazed vault to cocoon platforms beneath a sleek, airport-style concourse. Eurostar later moved to St Pancras, and Waterloo was subsequently refurbished and reintegrated.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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