Eden Project

"The Eden Project is a large-scale environmental complex in Cornwall, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 1.25 miles (2 km) from the town of St Blazey and 3 miles (5 km) from the larger town of St Austell.

The complex comprises a number of domes that house plant species from around the world, with each emulating a natural biome. The domes are made out of hundreds of hexagons plus a few pentagons that interconnect the whole construction together; each of these is a transparent cushion made of tough plastic. The first dome emulates a tropical environment, the second a warm temperate, Mediterranean environment.

The project was conceived by Tim Smit and designed by the architect Nicholas Grimshaw and engineering firm Anthony Hunt and Associates (now part of Sinclair Knight Merz), with Davis Langdon carrying out the project management, Sir Robert McAlpine and Alfred McAlpine undertaking the construction and MERO to design and build the biomes. The project took 2 1/2 years to construct and opened to the public on 17 March 2001."
-Wikipedia
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_Project