The Architecture Of Eden

The two biomes at the Eden Project have captured imaginations world-wide and become the visual trademarks of a destination that attracted some 2 million visitors in a year.

Step into innovative little gardens of Eden created on small terraces and city rooftops, as well as out in the suburbs and countryside. As our lifestyles become more sustainable, so does the way we interact with the outdoors. Today's gardeners aim not only to create decorative outside spaces but also to give something back. No matter what size your patch is, it's easy to create diverse and rich environments for plants and insects, or grow your own vegetables or fruits. This book presents spaces that are more imaginative, diverse, and sustainable. Learn how to grow food in the city, get creative with native plants, and design greener corners within urban areas. The Gardens of Eden looks at fascinating examples around the world, teaching what you can do for nature while revealing what a garden can do for you.

Design with Life chronicles the breakthroughs and projects of a nonprofit that is defining resolute new directions in socio-ecological design and other deep-seated intersections of synthetic biology, architecture, and urban systems. In the challenging context of accelerating climate dynamics, the core discipline of architectural design is evolving and embracing new forms of action. New York-based nonprofit Terreform ONE has established a distinctive design tactic that investigates projects through the regenerative use of natural materials, science, and the emergent field of socio-ecological design. This kind of design approach uses actual living matter (not abstracted imitations of nature) to create new functional elements and spaces. These future-based actions are not only grounded in social justice, but are also far-reaching in their application of digital manufacturing and maker culture. Terreform ONE tackles urgent environmental and urban social concerns through the integrated use of living materials and organisms.

"Eden by Design is a compelling and fascinating description of a possible Los Angeles that never came to be. Greg Hise and William Deverell have resurrected the Olmsted Brothers' 1930 plan for Los Angeles County, and then, in a wonderful introduction, put the plan in context so that to read it now is to see not only what seemed dangerous and possible in 1930 but also how and why one route to the present was chosen over others. In their hands, the plan acts like a ghost of Los Angeles, reminding us about a vanished past, lost possibilities, and the secrets that our present masks."—Richard White, author of The Organic Machine "The Report is not only a vital document in the history of Los Angeles . . . but a lost classic of a neglected golden age of city planning and landscape architecture. . . . It embodies a truly regional perspective; an ecological perspective; a long-range vision; an integration of design with finance and administration; and a truly grand interpretation of public space. It deserves to be known to every serious student of the American planning tradition."—Robert Fishman, author of Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia "An essential document for understanding the history of the West's largest city. Los Angeles had the opportunity to become an extraordinarily beautiful environment, a Paris in the desert. The editors make clear why, sadly, it did not; but also they hold out hope that portions of this brilliant but neglected plan might still be recovered."—Donald Worster, author of Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas "A welcome addition to the literature of American urban planning history."—Roger Montgomery, Professor of Architecture Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Jonathan Ball was born in Bude, Cornwall, in June 1947. After qualifying at the Architectural Association, London, he set up practice in his home town in 1974. In 1992 he was appointed MBE for Services to Architecture. In 1994 he was approached by Tim Smit with an idea to create the largest greenhouses on planet Earth to tell the story of the great plant hunters. Smit and Ball took huge personal risks as co-founders of the innovative architectural and environmental vision that became the internationally acclaimed Eden Project. Ball was removed from Eden against his will. Without due recompense he lost his architectural practice. Three high profile appearances in the Royal Courts of Justice over four years followed to save his name, his family home and his professional reputation. This is the story of one man's unflinching resolve and success in righting a public wrong, of a Cornishman looking to the glory of his nation and finding that enthusiasm, brilliant ideas and promises are not always enough.

Building Eden is Matthys Levy's first novel, a thriller with subject matter he is intimately familiar with. A gifted architect, Philip Corta, has the opportunity of a lifetime, the design of a major office/residential complex on New York's West Side, The Eden Center. The project endures many major setbacks resulting from the arrogance and shallow-minded behavior of the developer, corruption in City Hall, sabotage and murder by organized criminals, and recurring uncertainties about financing. Despite these and other setbacks, the project advances on schedule through 2001 until the events of 9/11 lead to personal tragedy and a change of direction that affects the project and all of the members of the design/construction team.