Plasma Studio’s Xi’an Greenhouse breaks away from traditional design with crystal-inspired inclined glass facades and a semi-submerged structure harmoniously integrated into the lakeside landscape.
The continuity between natural and artificial brings out a unique synergy. The main entrance is towards the lake; a prolonged cut emerges to create a light-filled reception from which visitors access the greenhouse.
The overall horseshoe shaped plan creates a loop to accommodate unique planting and spatial conditions.This shape also generates an interior open-air courtyard making it the centre of a three-dimensional web of interior and exterior circulation. This mesh of paths leads through three different climatic zones corresponding to plant environments.
This crystal of a greenhouse sits fittingly in between land and lake providing protection for plants and giving visitors a convivial space.
Project info:
Architects: Plasma Studio
Client: city of Xi’an
Budget: undisclosed
Size: 4,000 sq.m
Program: greenhouse
Awards: Wallpaper’s best building site 2011, this decade of architecture in china 2000-2010
Partner in charge: Eva Castro, Holger Kehne, Ulla Hell










