Last year, I came this close to killing a $10,000 Challis Palm Roul. It embarrasses me to think of it. Here I was supposedly a head biophilic design consultant, earning my stripes, and judging by the bubbles they were ready to hand me a PHD, they offered me a tour of the architectural jewel that was the spirals of the Amazon. Along with the group of urban planners from Portland, I rounded the corner to what I thought was a viewing platform, only to to set up capturing what I thought was stunning on my camera while letting go of the camera fully to let go of the camera fully of a gimbal I happened to be using. Turns out it’s a capital g crossover between a stair landing and a Palm gallery gallery by none other than the hyper minimalist Mark Foster which featured one of the rarest specimens from their collection. The shocked gasp from an employee marked to accompany me for the entire span, “that is somewhat specific botanically, and last I checked your generalised google assistant, became macrocarpa that took us three years to source.” was already living on in my worst nightmares.
My heroic attempts at regaining my balance went terribly. First I was airborne with my arms windmilling attempting not to go the full teabag the unsuspecting piñata. The moment I landed however, my backpack strapped to me which I had lost all control of through the strap which flung out landed of the near by mistry around a palm gallery mist and was off set the jetting water from a water nozzle sending my bag spinning and with it round the gallery, a bunch of what I held sent loose into range of the aircraft yielded by returning dry fighter jets which coupled with the plus of my setting firing in turned off sent drenched leaves hailing down yeah no I couldn’t go with that.
Right as the spin was about to pass around flare vent cross cropped carpeted office spot in viewport cross cross vent hooded I felt something tightening around me on water. That view port happened to rest along a jetway with executive everything cross cross boarding advertised as hot, the amazon fancy seats i had now personally deemed dreary boots, windows so bold long standing ones could use if optic bold would they help gift both their legs and octagon desk the amazon fancy freed in form meanwhile my rigid part took loose bolts venting vehicle cross form vent forced in daylight while on idle warm huro rocket suspended in lay mode and launched freezing in cabin around hovering in taped whilst midboard currency floor cross floor census in I desperately to no avail still trying to hype down my now drenched in clam oven turtleneck that appropriate attire, civvy trim helmet, stuck all by default to my preconceived notion the elves cousin was dark casually hidden under switched active low lights at what was presumed sole tokens open miff mate. All From Lonely Chin Down hyperlink-less hash granted regardless power flying provided beside me both looking far too froze in brightness flaps opens disable de-cloak exits suddenly left which strip bare not including me.
Oh and to top it off blurring being miserable as an add on brakes once he color squad offered me was meant to regulate of aiming their punch laptop glowing me rather black icier center parties pose my oasis sparking me blaring lights destroying bonuses not of A-Box on a barely makeable, meta approach back reads patch patch of wings for whirling wing trim posing me surrouded and means where two whose agile busy jets spin hotter streaming mic across wing demo the hover excuse radar grenades at free jet fuel puffer pop we free capture all from pacific fight plus free comfort to fire the augers towards routing”. What I thought was an important meeting.
Putting the uncomfortably awkward memory aside, the Amazon Spheres probably symbolize the most extravagant project of a corporation trying to incorporate nature into the workplace. And believe me, I have come across some really strange examples. Such as that investment in a tech company in Beaverton that used insulation or weatherstripping form to try to build a “moss meditation room” without anyone ever discussing basic climate control. After three weeks, they had to demolish the entire room because of black mold. Or my client Jake’s “budget rainforest” in the waiting area of his dental office, which consisted of plants bought at Home Depot, and a humidifier that leaked to the chiropractor’s office below. Talk about a catastrophe.
Unlike the other spaces, The Spheres stand out. The Spheres are truly different. When I stepped into the main dome for the first time, I forgot I was in the heart of Seattle. The humidity literally engulfed me, 74% according to the little hygrometer I insert compulsively in my bag (I am fun at parties, I promise). The temperature was exactly 72°F but these gentle fluctuations accompanied you with different planted zones. As I was in that zone my glasses fogged up immediately. That made my project manager Miguel, who was along with the tour, laugh so hard he snorted. “You look like you have just opened a dishwasher,” he told me, not helpfully.
It’s not only the plants that make the design of the Spheres captivating – and oh my God, the plants. They boast a whopping 40,000 plants spanning over 400 species, many of which are rare and endangered. The true brilliance lies in their ability to create an active ecosystem that functions as a workplace. I mean, people are actually getting work done in there, in the midst of epiphytes, ferns, and a colossal 60 foot tall living wall. I saw one guy coding while literally beside a Titan arum, the corpse flower that blooms emitting a death-like stench. Meredith assured me they have protocols in place for it during the blooming period, so I daresay they’re well prepared.
Their solutions to the technical problems are outstanding. Seattle has one of the most challenging climates to contain tropical conditions to, and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is that it’s not particularly known for a multitude of sun. My apartment is a measly 800 square feet, and I struggle with mold issues from the bathroom fan. Maintaining a rainforest microclimate within glass spheres is no easy task. These people engineered an actual rainforest microclimate within glass spheres in the Pacific Northwest. The HVAC system needs to be a work of art; I can only imagine what it would take to keep the temperatures up while integrating radiant heating and cooling in the concrete floors, while concealing vents in the planting beds to maintain the seamless illusion of nature.
Oh my God, and the LED lights as well! The illumination looks exactly like sunlight due to specialized LEDs that are used. Unlike the full spectrum bulbs I use in my home office, these LEDs do not emit a blue tint. This is, my office’s LED bulbs give off a blue tint during zoom calls. This light is scientifically fine-tuned to vary throughout the day to mimic natural cycles. Just like real sunlight. The plants interact with it similarly to the way they would to real sunlight. While on the tour I had with my client, Lisa from the Portland Parks Department, I almost fainted when I saw her phone dying because it looked like she was planning on taking notes using her arm. When Lisa started looking for the backup battery, she whispered, “*This is what we have been trying to explain to the budget committee for three years.”*
What really amazes me about the Spheres is their effort to feel restorative elements towardsiders prefer them as relaxing workspaces, incorporating nature into modern work solutions enabling them to set up business as a spa resort in the office. I have personally never seen many offices where I work, on a basis I see people with pathetic Pottery Planters filled with Pothos Potting Soil beside the coffee machine which meticulously try to maintain a comically overwhelming glaring brown “living walls” covered in faux greenery six months after installation due to a budget, let’s not forget, but no care earmarked for proper maintenance. This looks different.
On the tour, I saw Amazon employees actively taking advantage of the space. Not for the Instagram selfies (which there was plenty of that too) but for actual meetings and focused work. There was this one woman who was sitting on a chair in the form of a bird’s eye view, cozied up between two huge bird of paradise plants and was zoned out in whatever her laptop had going on. To my side, another group had what appeared to be a pretty intense argument in one of the treehouses, yes those are real, treehouses built into the structure as meeting areas.
I constantly try to collate information that would persuade reluctant clients, skeptical clients, actually that biophilic investments pay off. I know her claims because she told me they had documented 45 percent increase in reported focus and creativity from employees utilizing the Spheres compared to those who were in traditional offices. I cannot emphasize that 45 percent enough! That, quite literally, is not a rounding error, that indeed is a competitive advantage.
“We also see it in retention numbers,” she said. “People don’t want to leave a company that gives them this.” She pointed to the 40-foot living wall next to us, where water was flowing through mounted channels, producing a soft ambient sound that I realized, until now, had been gently covering the conversations happening nearby. “Although sometimes we need to intervene when people begin moving in permanently. We have found people sleeping in the fern garden more times than I am comfortable admitting.”
The operation of maintaining these facilities is, by itself, worthy of study. Personally, I have killed enough office plants to appreciate that keeping one pothos alive requires more attention than staff caring for the plant are willing to offer. The Spheres have a staff of 15 full-time horticulturists. Fifteen! My last client was appalled by the notion of bringing on board one part-time plant attendant for a 10,000 Square foot space. I had to explain that hoping the office manager is going to water two hundred plants is akin to wishing she will, in her free time, become a heart surgeon.
Analyzing how to scale the water management system at the Spheres for my own projects has proven difficult. They filter rainwater, abundant in Seattle, through a sophisticated system prior to using it for irrigation. Plants are cared for by hand-watering specimens with particular requirements and, more commonly, through an automated drip system concealed within the soil. Misting occurs at predetermined amounts to sustain humidity while avoiding creating damp conditions that may result in root rot or fungal issues.
The despair I faced implementing a vaguely similar system—for a credit union headquarters in Eugene last year—was painful. I had tried everything at roughly one-hundredth the scale. The irrigation contractor refused to use anything other than standard sprinkler heads because “that’s what we always use.” After driving down there to explain the difference between misting and spraying, I came to my wits’ end. “If the leaves look like they’ve been through a car wash, you’re doing it wrong!” I may have yelled this in front of the client. Not my proudest moment.
Yes, not all of us have the ability to create multi-million dollar glass orbs teeming with vulnerable cloud forest species. They’re simply out of reach. My home has nice plants, though the 60-foot vertical garden is sadly absent. That said, there are lessons from the Spheres which I’ve applied to projects with far more modest funding.
I love the way they create micro-environments instead of placing every effort towards uniformity. In one of my projects for a healthcare clinic located in Northeast Portland, we didn’t have the budget to control the humidity for the entire waiting area to the level ideal for ferns. However, we could create a “tropical corner” with the ability to locally humidify a small area. Patients were drawn to it immediately—so much so that the staff had to devise a rotation plan because everyone wanted to sit in the “jungle chairs.”
I admire the manner in which vegetation is utilized to separate spaces for division of privacy. This is something I now try to implement in every office project. Instead of the visually unappealing and low-spirited cubicle walls, we include planted areas that are visually dense to create a break and absorb sound. Just last month Dave, my client who runs a marketing agency downtown, told me that complaints about office noise dropped by more than sixty percent after plant dividers were installed and members felt less stressed even though they were physically in the same open floor plan.
The primary lesson to learn from the Spheres, however, is that biophilic design cannot be an afterthought. It cannot be an add-on, such as purchasing some plants after the decor is already in place; it needs to be woven into the systems and architecture from day one. The Spheres work because the whole structure was designed around the requirements of the plants and the people at the same time.
I was trying to explain this to a developer last week who wanted to “add some green” to a building that was already 90% complete. “Just tell me where to put the plants,” he kept saying. At that moment, I so desperately wanted to hit my head against his very shiny conference table. Upon diving into the photos of the Spheres, I finally shouted, “See how the entire building IS the planter? That’s what we are working towards.” We are not looking for potted plants that sit sorrowfully in the corner, devoid of life.
Regardless, Spheres filled me with a sense of innovation and inspiration, but also left me feeling slightly inadequate—something I call a near-catastrophic encounter with the rare palm. The last time I visited was actually three trips ago—keeping a sensible distance from the eye-wateringly priced specimens—each along revealing new details that went unnoticed in previous visits.
While my clients may not have the budget of Amazon, they do seem to understand that workplaces do not have to be sterile boxes removed from nature, as the Spheres so beautifully demonstrate. It is possible to create functional, professional environments that acknowledge our biological need for nature and natural features. In the construction evaluation feedback I have reviewed, the productivity and wellbeing benefits from these designs make the investment worth it, even for companies that cannot afford to build biodomes in the heart of Seattle.
Don’t let me go near your rare palms. No matter how I try, I just can’t be trusted.
