Bombay Sapphire Distillery Glasshouses (Laverstoke/ U.K.)

These curvy glasshouses are part of the Bombay Sapphire Distillery in Laverstoke. They house exotic plant species used in their distillation process. One of the glasshouses has a humid tropical environment and the other a dry temperate Mediterranean climate. The connection to the still house allows waste heat from the distillation process to be recycled to maintain the warm climates for the plant species to flourish. The fluid geometry of these new glass buildings was influenced by recent advances in glass technology and by Britain’s rich heritage of botanical glasshouse structures.













Photos by Iwan Baan.

via
http://www.archdaily.com/554750/bombay-sapphire-distillery-heatherwick-studio

Sketch (London/ U.K.)

In a converted 18th century building in Conduit Street, Mayfair, London there's a wonderfully surreal place called "Sketch". It has an art-gallery and several hip restaurants and cool bars under one roof: The Lecture Room & Library, the Gallery, the Glade, the Parlour, and the East Bar.
Opened in 2002 by legendary French chef Pierre Gagnaire and restaurateur Mourad Mazouz is has become a destination for art, music, fabulous food and decadent drinks. Apart from award winning food, the place is also a visual feast that is ever changing like a sketch...

Tree Sparrow House (Cornwall/ U.K)

Perched in an ash tree with sea & countryside views, this tree house accommodation offers a unique holiday adventure.
Sitting about 2m from the ground you access the main seating/kitchen area via a wooden staircase. The mezzanine level has a cozy double bed. It is fully insulated with double glazed windows and has heating for chillier nights.

Jack Sparrow House (St. Keverne/ U.K)

The Jack Sparrow House is a guest house in St. Keverne on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall. Its lofty position gives water views of Falmouth Bay the fields and orchards of Tregaminion. The cabin has been lovingly constructed with careful attention to detail.
Downstairs there's a seating/kitchen area and a double bed on the mezzanine. It is fully insulated with double glazed windows and has heating for chillier nights.
Facilities include: Two burner hob and grill. Cold box for cool storage. There's composting toilet inside as well as separate horsebox shower and toilet outside.

Pastel Beach Huts (Mersea Island/ U.K)

Little beach huts lining the coast of West Mersea, Essex looking out across the North Sea.

Caban Crwn (Machynlleth/ U.K.)

Caban Crwn (Crwn means round in Welsh) is a guest accommodation in Machynlleth, Wales. It has a kitchen & lounge area on the bottom and a ladder leads to the mezzanine bed. A hidden door even contains a compact compost loo and shower unit.

Exbury Egg (Beaulieu river/ U.K.)

Floating on the Beaulieu river in Hampshire, the Exbury Egg is a self-sustaining home & work station for artist Stephen Turner who spends 2014 living in the Egg to study the life of a tidal creek.

Dragon shaped hedge (Norfolk / U.K.)

John Brooker, a 75-year-old retired fan maker, has spent ten years sculpting his hedge into a giant 100ft-long dragon. To constantly perfect the mythical beast he spends hours on end adding details as the hedge grows over time.

Pet Cemetery in Hyde Park (London/ U.K.)

"Nestled within the bushes of Victoria Gate Lodge’s garden on Bayswater Road and behind the fortifying iron gates of the Park’s perimeter, you will find the enchanting and pint-sized Pet Cemetery."

The first grave was for "Cherry" a Maltese Terrier whose owners frequently walked their dog in Hyde Park and made good acquaintance with the Gatekeeper at Victoria Lodge. When Cherry died of old age permission was granted to bury her there. A tombstone bearing the inscription “Poor Cherry. Died April 28. 1881,” was constructed in his memory. The idea caught on and more beloved pets were buried there up until 1903 eventually reaching over 300 graves.

The Pavilion Hotel (London/ U.K.)

The Pavilion Hotel is a funky townhouse in central London. Created by siblings Danny and Noshi Karne as an eclectic, exquisite alternative to boring hotels.
All 30 rooms are decorated outrageously and no 2 are the same, making it a popular spot for photo shoots & Music video's.

Heart shaped forest (Gloucestershire/ U.K.)

This heart shaped forest clearing was created by Winston Howes as a lasting tribute to his wife of 33 years who suddenly died from heart failure years ago. The farmer planted thousands of oak saplings in a 6-acre field, leaving only a heart-shaped area in the center, with the point facing towards his wife’s childhood home at Wotton Hill. By now it's grown into a full forest with a peaceful center where Mr Howes can sit and remember his wife. The best way to admire the site is via hot air balloon.

The Sliding Facade House (Margate/ U.K.)

This installation in the English seaside town of Margate was created by British designer Alex Chinneck and is called "From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes". He removed the facade of an 11-year abandoned house and replaced it with a brand new one that seems to slide down, exposing the top storey. "I increasingly like that idea of exposing the truth and the notion of superficiality," he explained.

The Cement Menagerie (Branxton/ U.K.)

The Cement Menagerie in Northumberland is a garden filled with sculptures of animals of all sizes and types as well as human figures, along with many short poems and inscriptions, but above all, memories. It was founded by a retired local master joiner, 'Old John' Fairnington Snr in the garden of his house to amuse his handicapped son, Edwin. The models were based on life-size drawings and sculpted in galvanised wire netting, stuffed with paper, then cemented over and painted.
The garden is still open daily from Easter to the end of October and free of charge, although donations are essential for its upkeep.

Shell Grotto (Margate/ U.K.)

Discovered in 1835 by James Newlove - who broke through into its roof while digging a duck-pond - the Shell Grotto is an ornate subterranean passageway in Margate, Kent. Almost all the surface area of the walls and roof is covered in mosaics created entirely of seashells, totalling about 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of mosaic, or 4.6 million shells. It was discovered in 1835 but its age & purpose remains unknown.

Kelburn Castle (Fairlie/ U.K.)

Kelburn Castle is the seat of the Earl of Glasgow. In 2007 experts told the owners of Kelburn Castle that its concrete facing would eventually need to be replaced to avoid further damage to the stonework. At the suggestion of his children, Lord Glasgow invited four Brazilian graffiti artists to paint the walls. Historic Scotland agreed to the project, on the basis that the graffiti would be removed when the castle was re-harled.

The Hardy Tree (London/ U.K.)

In the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church in London, an ash tree is circled by gravestones.
Thomas Hardy (before turning to writing full time) studied architecture in London under Mr. Arlhur Blomfield, an architect based in Covent Garden. During the 1860s the Midland Railwayline was being built over part of the original St. Pancras Churchyard. Blomfield was commissioned to supervise the proper exhumation of human remains and dismantling of tombs. He passed this unenviable task to his protegé Thomas Hardy in. c.l865. Hardy would have spent many hours in St. Pancras Churchyard . . . overseeing the careful removal of bodies and tombs from the land on which the railway was being built. The headstones around this ash tree would have been placed here about that time. The tree has since grown in amongst the stones.

La Rosa Campsite Extraordinaire (Whitby/ U.K.)

At "La Rosa Campsite Extraordinaire" visitors can stay in gypsy wagons and circus tents. It's surrounded by the North Yorkshire Moors National Park so the camping is low energy (candles and fairy lights), low pollution (no nasty chemicals or generators) and respectful to wildlife (the quieter you are the more chance you have of seeing the deer).

Prison Hotel Oxford Castle (Oxfordshire/ U.K.)

Nine centuries old and originally the historic residence of Empress Matilda, the Oxford Castle was also used as a prison until it closed in 1996 and was redeveloped as a hotel.

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation (Dumfries/ U.K.)

The focus of the Garden of Cosmic Speculation lies on the patterns of mathematics within nature itself. Metal sculptures and green landscaping are intended to provoke deep thought about scientific concepts like the fibonacci series, fractals, DNA, and the human senses. The 30-acre private property in Dumfries, Scotland is owned by Charles Jencks and only allows access to the public on one shining day per year.

Athenaeum Hotel (London/ U.K.)

Designed by Patrick Blanc, inventor of the vertical garden.