thumb|300px|right|The Climatron greenhouse at the Missouri Botanical Garden, side entrance, 2004

thumb|right|300px|Interior of the Climatron as it was in the early 1980s ([[Historic American Buildings Survey|HABS photo – August 1983)]]

The Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went, the dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid Plexiglass (Perspex) panels. Completed in 1960, it was designed by T. C. Howard, of Synergetics, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina. The broad climatic range within the dome, which recreates a lowland rain forest, is achieved by sophisticated climate controls without using interior partitions.

The dome contains a small stone pre-existing neo-classical pavilion and over 400 varieties of plant life. A bank of 24 flood lights, revolving at night in five-minute cycles, simulates noon light on one side of the dome and moonlight on other side. The climate ranges from the Amazon through Hawaii and Java to India.

Over time, the building experienced deterioration of the original Plexiglas panels and the adverse effect of humidity on some metal elements. The greenhouse was closed for extensive renovations in 1988 and reopened in March 1990.

See also

  • Buckminster Fuller, patented the geometry for geodesic domes, lecturer, inventor, and author
  • Jewel Box (St. Louis, Missouri), a previous greenhouse built in St. Louis in Forest Park
  • Saint Louis Science Center, a museum whose original 1963 planetarium building has a unique hyperboloid structure
  • Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory
  • List of botanical gardens in the United States
  • Phytotron

References

  • David P.D. Munns, Engineering the Environment: Phytotrons and the Quest to Control Climate in the Cold War (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017).
  • The Climatron at World of Trons

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