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Within the St. Louis Missouri Botanical Garden is the Climatron. This is the world’s first geodesic dome greenhouse, and the first geodesic dome to be made out of Plexiglass. It is also the first completely air-conditioned greenhouse in the world. St. Louis, MO can be seen here.
In 1976 architects selected the Climatron as one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in American history. It is truly breathtaking. The world “Climatron” was chosen because of the climate-control technology that is used within the dome. Click here to read about Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Structure
Amazingly, the Climatron has no interior support. It is 70 feet tall in the center and at the base it has a 175-foot diameter.
Lowland Rain Forest
By using complex climate controls, the Climatron is able to recreate the climate of a lowland rain forest. Within the dome, you will be able to find over 1500 plants found in the Amazon, Hawaii, Java, and India.
Innovations in Lighting
In order to create noon on one side of the dome and moonlight on the other side of the dome, incredible innovations were used in lighting the structure. There is a bank of 24 flood lights and they revolve at night in 5-minute cycles to produce the right light conditions for the right plants.