A greenhouse is a climate machine

The Hivernacle looks delicate, but its purpose is technical. Josep Amargós i Samaranch designed the greenhouse as part of the group of buildings associated with the 1888 Universal Exposition. Iron and glass created a controlled environment for plants that Barcelona's outdoor climate could not simply provide. After a long closure and restoration, the building reopened and is now part of the Museu de Ciències Naturals, combining living botanical collections with science communication. Stand outside and read the transparency structurally: the point is not that glass is pretty. The point is that nineteenth-century technology made a different climate possible inside a public park. Architecture here is being asked to keep living things alive.