A Visit to The Spheres in Seattle, Washington
The next time you’re in the Pacific Northwest, please visit The Spheres - it truly is an amazing place.
Recently, while on a business trip to Seattle, I had the opportunity to visit The Spheres for the first time. They're three spherical conservatories that are part of the Amazon headquarters campus. The domes range from three to four stories tall and are covered in pentagonal hexecontahedron steel panels. Designed by NBBJ and the landscape firm, Site Workshop, the structure was created to hold more than 40-thousand plants from the cloud forest regions of more than 30-countries as well as an employee lounge and meeting place for Amazon employees, additional retail stores and an exhibition area on the ground floor.
Here are just a few of the photos from our tour - enjoy.
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- The Spheres are located in downtown Seattle. They opened in January 2018. While used primarily for Amazon employees, the conservatories are open for weekly tours and various exhibits. (Photo courtesy of The Spheres)
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- The Spheres’ façade contains 2643-panes of glass. Its shape is based on one of 26 known subsets of Catalan solids named for the Belgian mathematician who first described them in 1865.
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- The glass is ultra-clear and energy-efficient, with a film interlayer to keep out infrared wavelengths that produce unwanted heat. To test it out, the Amazon horticulture team built a small greenhouse in Woodinville, Washington using the same type of glass. This mockup greenhouse allowed the team to test light levels, temperature, and humidity in a realistic environment.
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- Here I am in front of the Living Wall. It is an innovative demonstration of biodiversity. The Spheres’ horticulture team planted so much into every inch of space.
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- Here is another view of the Living Wall from the ground floor. It is four stories tall with 25-thousand plants, which were first grown on mesh panels and then transported and attached to the growing surface.
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- Thousands of plants fill the domes, which are kept at a temperature of 72-degrees Fahrenheit and 60-percent humidity during the day. This is Woodwardia orientalis, or Oriental Chain Fern. It has huge cascading, graceful fronds with new, pinnate blades glossy bronze-red that age to this bright green.
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- Ctenanthe Burle Marxii is commonly known as the fishbone prayer plant – a species of plant in the genus Ctenanthe native to Brazil. Its common name derives from the alternating pattern of stripes on its oval, pale green leaves.
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- Eucharis grandiflora is a lovely flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to western Colombia and western Ecuador. It produces porcelain-like, fragrant flowers.
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- Begonia ferox is such an interesting species from limestone areas in southwest China. In its native habitat, it is found clinging to limestone cliffs and shady rock crevices. The foliage is a mix of raised black cones that resemble teeth, though not sharp to the touch. And look closely – the tip of each has a single erect hair-bristle.
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- Here I am with Justin Schroeder – Amazon Spheres program manager and member of the horticulture team. Justin gave us a wonderful tour through the domes.
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- As many of you know, I love begonias and saw many beautiful cultivars at The Spheres. This is Begonia sizemoreae – an exotic species from North Vietnam.
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- Another begonia – Begonia chloroneura is an extremely rare species with bright lime-green veins that stand out against the dark green upper leaf surfaces and the red undersides of the leaf blades – it is such a striking variety.
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- Begonia pavonina is known as the “peacock begonia”. When light hits the leaves from a certain angle, they light up with a shimmering metallic blue.
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- And this is Begonia ‘little darling’ – a rhizomatous heirloom variety. ‘Little Darling’ is a compact with almost black leaves and bright green patching throughout the margin along with tiny clusters of hairs around the leaf edge.
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- I also love alocasias and have many of my own that I display outdoors during summer. This is Alocasia micholitziana with satiny deep green to black leaves and glowing white veins on 18-inch-long leaves.
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- Here is Kevin behind another large leaf plant to show scale. This is Anthurium faustomirandae – a large growing plant with giant heart-shaped leaves. The leaves can measure up to three feet long and two to three feet wide. Each leaf is very tough and thick, almost like cardboard.
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- Philodendron gloriosum is a species of plant in the family Araceae, genus Philodendron. It is a crawling, terrestrial plant, native to Colombia whose foliage is velvety soft with pink margins, and pale green, white, or pinkish veins.
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- Blechnum gibbum, commonly called silver lady, is a “hard fern” of the genus Blechnum in the family Blechnaceae. It prefers a warm, shady area with lots of moisture.
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- Adiantum peruvianum is also called silver-dollar fern. It has black stems and large flat pinnules. It is frequently grown as an ornamental greenhouse or house plant and is favored for its unusually large pinnules.
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- Inga edulis, known as ice-cream-bean, joaquiniquil, cuaniquil, guama or guaba, is an evergreen tree with a broad, spreading, moderately dense crown. It is native to South America and widely grown, especially by indigenous Amazonians, for shade, food, timber, medicine, and production of the alcoholic beverage cachiri.
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- The Bird’s Nest sits above a larger seating area and is used for smaller employee meetings.
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- Here is a canopy view of a Ficus alii, or Amstel King as it is sometimes called. It is a large plant that originally came from Asia, Malaysia, and India.
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- I loved seeing these mossy rocks. The Spheres provide such a direct link to nature.
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- Pleurothallis teaguei is an epiphytic orchid in the genus Pleurothallis. The plant blooms in the summer with several successive half-inch wide flowers.
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- Here I am next to a Hedychium longicornutum. This rare epiphytic ginger lily from southeast Asia produces gracefully arching two-foot tall stems topped by bright red and yellow petaled flowers produced from a cone-like inflorescence – so gorgeous.
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- Here is another pretty flower from a Medinilla miniata. The clusters of scarlet-red flowers ringed with bright purple hang from the end of a long stem below the plant. In the wild, it’s found growing on logs or trees in the Philippines. I have bright pink Medinillas growing in my greenhouse.
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- Nepenthes miranda is a very large, robust growing carnivorous tropical pitcher plant. Its large, speckled pitcher can be over 18-inches with a very wide mouth when fully mature. It is very good at catching large insects, such as stink bugs, wasps and yellow jackets.
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- Conocephalum conicum, also known as the great scented liverwort, common mushroom-headed liverwort or snakeskin liverwort, is a liverwort species in the genus Conocephalum. It is found in open areas of woodlands on wet cliffs, behind waterfalls, damp depressions, sandy banks, wet rocks, and moist inorganic soils.
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- Hanging down from this wall is a Thundbergia mysorensis, also called Mysore trumpet vine or Indian clock vine. – a woody-stemmed evergreen, native to southern tropical India.
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- And here I am looking up at this amazing Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the titan arum, the largest flowering structure in the world, reaching 10 or 12 feet in height and five feet in width when open.
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- Here is a closer look at the sides of the plant. Due to its odor, which is like the smell of a rotting corpse or carcass, the titan arum is also known as the corpse flower or corpse plant.
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- After the flower dies back, a single leaf, which reaches the size of a small tree, grows from the underground corm. The leaf grows on a green stalk that branches into three sections at the top, each containing many leaflets. The leaf structure can reach up to 20 feet tall. Each year, the old leaf dies and a new one grows in its place. When the corm has stored enough energy, it becomes dormant for about four months and then the process repeats.
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- Kevin took this fun snapshot of our group – Carolyn D’Angelo, Jerry Haggerty, me, Kim Miller-Olko and Stella Ciccarone. What a fun trip to The Spheres.
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