Climatron
St. Louis, Missouri
- Year
- 1960
- Architect
- Murphy and Mackey
- Style
- Modernist geodesic dome
- Dimensions
- 53 m in diameter, 21 m high, approximately 2,500 acrylic glass panels
Inaugurated in 1960 at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Climatron was the very first climate-controlled greenhouse designed entirely as a geodesic dome, a technology just then being popularized by Buckminster Fuller. Designed by the firm Murphy and Mackey with engineer Paul Londe, the structure rises without a single interior support column to a height of 21 meters and a diameter of 53 meters, covered by nearly 2,500 transparent panels. Closed for renovation in 1988, it reopened in 1990 with new glazing and continues to house nearly 3,000 tropical species.
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38.61° N, 90.26° W