‘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.
