The proposal for the Oxford Botanic Garden introduces a new family of glasshouses and visitor facilities that expand and modernise the infrastructure of the oldest botanic garden in the UK. The masterplan organises these new buildings within a highly sensitive historic and landscape setting, preserving key views towards Oxford’s landmark towers and maintaining the open character of the riverside gardens along the Cherwell.
Juan Valeros contributed to the competition as part of the WilkinsonEyre team, focusing primarily on developing the geometry of the two principal glasshouses. The Tropical Glasshouse is conceived as a sequence of laminated timber or engineered bamboo parabolic arches, set at 3.5‑metre intervals, rising to a height of 15 metres. Its form, inspired by the historic glasshouses of Paxton and Burton, allows for an ascending internal walkway that weaves through dense planting and leads to an elevated terrace. The Arid Glasshouse, approximately 8 metres high, is formed by a series of
identical parabolic arches inclined at 15 degrees and connected by catenary steel cables. This repetitive, tensioned geometry creates a gently undulating envelope that softens the building’s profile against the landscape while providing optimal light and ventilation for dry‑climate species. Both glasshouses were developed through parametric modelling, enabling extensive exploration of formal and structural variations.
The ensemble is completed by new education, café and exhibition spaces, the refurbishment of existing structures, and a landscape project that introduces a new garden area shaped by organic geometries inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, in dialogue with other exterior and interior interventions. Sustainability is central to the proposal, including timber or bamboo primary structures, ground‑source heat pumps and a circular, energy‑efficient environmental strategy.
