Rhodarium

1998 Project

The basic idea was to accommodate the entire botanical program of the new rhododendron park under a single climatic cover.

Different climatic zones are incorporated such that no particular protective element is required to separate the park's climatic conditions from those required for specific rhododendron subgenera. In other words, a two-layered, transparent ETFE foil, highly tear-resistant due to reinforcements welded in, was stretched over a newly created landscape of buttes and geological formations amidst crossing paths and narrow squares - a flat pneumatic lying at various heights above the rhododendron collection - fireproof, self-cleaning and open to ultraviolet radiation. The plants' natural climate can thus be perfectly simulated. The internal pressure achieved by this double membrane amounts to about 500 pascal and remains stable in the open system.

Amongst others, valve outlets serve to gain energy. Warm air coming in from the two-layered membrane through heat exchangers is applied for heating and cooling. The construction bearing, supporting and stretching the membrane is made of slender corrosion-resistant aluminum tubes. All installations are either directed in or clipped to these tubes.

In terms of form and function, the endeavor now to be implemented corresponds to our project for the Botanical Gardens in Graz, designed in 1982.