Field Notes: The Spheres – Seattle, Washington

Isaac Kremer/ March 26, 2019/ Physical, placemaking

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heading">Amazon Shows Off its Bubble Greenhouses at Seattle HQ

The new glass glossary/buildings/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="a2dbf93c59b6ab76f358376453e65a83" target="_blank" >buildings house over 40,000 individual plants from over 50 countries.

By Michael Kan

January 30, 2018 6:44PM EST

Amazon’s bubble-shaped botanical offices, dubbed The Spheres, are now up and running.

The downtown-seattle">project is part of a $4 billion Amazon investment in its Seattle offices and was designed to create a rainforest-like environment in the middle of city/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="1bb14b1aa6022028057269551c15df6d" target="_blank" >the city. The glass buildings are home to over 40,000 individual plants from over 50 countries.

But even as the structures function like an indoor garden/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="c05c3ed267601ed1b50927d739cefacd" target="_blank" >botanical garden, they’ve actually been made for employee use. Amazon envisions staffers holding meetings at the site, which contain 40-foot-tall tree houses in addition to sitting areas around the flora. The Spheres can hold up to 800 Amazon employees.

“Our goal with The Spheres was to create a unique gathering place where employees could collaborate and innovate together,” said Amazon vice presidentJohn Schoettler in a statement.

At the Monday grand opening, Jeff Bezos and Alexa made an appearance.

In total, the structures house over 300 different plant species. Most of them are from moist “cloud forest” environments found in tropical and subtropical regions. Over 25,000 of the plants have been sustainability/bringing-the-spheres-green-walls-to-life">woven into walls that run inside the buildings. A 55-foot tree called a Ficus rubiginosa is the largest plant at the site.

The structures are a big change from the “outdated motels and surface parking lots” that originally sat in the downtown location, broken_link">according to the company.

The Spheres began to welcome Amazon employees on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the buildings aren’t exactly open to the public, but the company does plan on holding tours and field trips there for local schools and universities. It’s also created a visitor ceiling-medallion/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="557374c3eebbede5d82414433d1f21e7" target="_blank" >center at the site that anyone can book a time to check out. However, some Twitter users are status/958415224259805184" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reporting the visitor center doesn’t let you enter the botanical areas of The Spheres.