The Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome

Geodesic dome

A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...

 that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist.-History:...

 in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went

Frits Warmolt Went

Frits Warmolt Went was a Dutch biologist whose 1928 experiment demonstrated the existence of auxin in plants.Went's father was the prominent Dutch botanist F.A.F.C. 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, NC. The broad climactic range

Climate

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

 within the dome, which recreates a lowland rain forest, is achieved by sophisticated climate controls without using interior partitions.

The structure is an unpartitioned quarter-sphere dome, 175 feet (53.3 m) in diameter and 70 feet (21.3 m) high. The frame is supported by aluminum tubes under compression and aluminum rods under tension. The St. Louis architects Murphy and Mackey were the architects on record. Synergetics, Inc were the designers of the dome. The architects received the 1961 R. S. Reynolds

Reynolds Metals

Reynolds Group Holdings is an American packaging company with its roots in the Reynolds Metals Company, was the second largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third largest in the world...

 Memorial Award of $25,000 for their architectural use of aluminum. In 1976 it was named one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in United States history.

The dome contains a small stone pre-existing neo-classical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 pavilion

Folly

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...

 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. The original Plexiglas glazing

Glazing

Glazing, which derives from the Middle English for 'glass', is a part of a wall or window, made of glass. Glazing also describes the work done by a professional "glazier"...

 was replaced with 2,425 panes of heat-strengthened glass (containing a plastic interlayer called Saflex) and coated with a low-emissivity

Low-emissivity

Low emissivity - actually low thermal emissivity - is a quality of a surface that radiates, or emits, low levels of radiant thermal energy. All materials absorb, reflect and emit radiant energy...

 film. In 2010, the Botanical Garden celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Climatron.

See also

• Buckminster Fuller
  Buckminster Fuller
  Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
  
   Champion of geodesic dome designs, inventor, futurist, author, and professor at local Washington University
• Jewel Box (St. Louis, Missouri)
  Jewel Box (St. Louis, Missouri)
  The Jewel Box is a greenhouse located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. It now serves as a public horticultural facility and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .It was designed by architect William C. E...
  
   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