When the £80 million Eden Project opens on 17th March 2001, visitors will be able to see a life-sized working exhibit - controlled by Parker Maxam high flow pneumatic power valves and pneumatic cylinders - which emphasises the relationship between people and plants. The exhibit, called Plant Takeaway, is just part of the remarkable Eden Project which has been created 'to promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, leading towards a sustainable future for all.' Sited in a redundant and once waterlogged clay pit in St Austell, Cornwall, the Eden Project is a visitor destination and an incredible piece of architecture - the world's largest geodesic domes (known as biomes) all interlocking to create the most awesome greenhouse a gardener could imagine. The Humid Tropics Biome - large enough to contain the Tower of London - covers an area of 15,590 square metres (1.55 hectares) and is 55 metres high by 10 metres wide and 200 metres long.
The smaller Warm Temperate Biome covers an area of 6,540 square metres.
The Biomes will contain thousands of plants, including a rainforest canopy.
Visitors to the Plant Takeaway exhibit can watch all the material possessions, the food, the clothing and eventually the air vanish from a domestic family scene as all the plant-related substances disappear.
The exhibit was conceived and built by Mongrel Media who specified Parker Maxam VS Series high flow pneumatic valves, CT Series ISO cylinders and Micromax cylinders, and modular valve islands for the control system.
Parker Maxam engineers worked closely with Mongrel Media designers throughout the development and construction of the Plant Takeaway exhibit to ensure the best possible control solution.
"The Takeaway exhibit evolved as it was being built, so needed a simple-to-assemble, flexible approach to the pneumatic control circuitry", said Will Jackson, one of the creators of Plant Takeaway.
"Using Parker Maxam high flow pneumatic valves on a versatile modular sub-base manifold system allowed us to add valves as they were needed."