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| 224 THE EARTH CENTRE 1995 |
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| A lightweight enclosure covering 10,000m2. It
is a vast exhibition hall housing a wide range of exciting multi-media
exhibits and auditoria. Today our communities demands from us
a new humanity and architecture. A humanity expressed by respect
for nature and an enhanced quality of life and an architecture
that is soft and organic; to enclose the energy-efficient, non
polluting technologies of the 21st Century. The Earth Centre
aims to express these ideals in a built form that will act as
an exemplar to mark the beginning of the next millennium. |
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| The building is conceived as a brightly coloured,
hovering, butterfly-like form, creating harmony with the newly
restored landscape. The roof creates a single span under which
the various exhibits are arranged on three free-form floors
connected by escalators, permitting ease of movement for people.
The highly coloured roof surface is a living, breathing skin
of energy generating photovoltaic panels. Sheer glass along
the front of the building signals the entrance drawing in vast
numbers of people from around the park and a telecommunications
mast provides a symbolic focus as well as a beacon of light
that can be seen for miles. At night the building glows from
within emitting a romantic coloured light. |
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Client
Structural + Services Engineer |
The Earth Centre
Arup |
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