Under Glass

Under Glass

Victorian iron, condensation and palms. The warmest and most optimistic of the four, and the only one where the building is built to be got rid of by the plants.

Under Glass started in 2021 and is the newest of the four: palm houses in Glasgow, the botanic ranges in Edinburgh and Dundee, two municipal propagation houses that are not open to the public, and a walled-garden range in Perthshire that has been under restoration for the whole time I have been going. Everything is shot in the morning before the vents open, because once they do the condensation clears and the light stops being the subject.

Running since2021
FramesAbout 240
GlasshousesEighteen — fourteen Victorian, four built in the last decade
ConditionsEarly morning, before the vents open
Since photographedThree closed
A glasshouse seen from outside at dusk, warmly lit from within, its structure a lattice against the sky
Palm house, Glasgow. The only frame in the project made after dark.
The apex of an iron and glass roof seen from directly below with the glazing bars radiating
Roof apex, Edinburgh. Ninety-six panes to the ring.
A propagation house with rows of terracotta pots on staging in soft light
Propagation house, Dundee. Not open to the public.
A curved glazed corridor linking two houses with palms pressing against the glass
Link corridor, Glasgow. The palms have been winning since about 1980.

Every other building I photograph is trying to hold something out. These are trying to hold something in, and losing — the paint goes, the putty goes, the ferns come up through the staging, and the whole delicate iron argument gets quietly overrun by the thing it was built to protect. They are the warmest rooms I know and the only ones in any of these projects where I have ever wanted to sit down and stay.

A cast iron column and capital carrying the roof, paint layers legible at hand scale
Column head, Glasgow. Eleven layers of paint, counted at a chip.
A wall of ferns against condensation-covered glass
Fern wall, Edinburgh. Before the vents opened. Available as a print.
A long glasshouse interior receding to a vanishing point with staging on both sides
The long house, Perthshire. Sixty-two metres. Available as a print.
A modern glazed pavilion in a botanic garden seen across a lawn
New range, Dundee. 2019, and it will weather like the rest.
A water lily pool inside a glasshouse with pads and the reflection of the roof structure
Lily pool, Glasgow. The roof is in the water. Available as a print.
A walled garden doorway framing a glasshouse beyond it
Walled garden, Perthshire. Under restoration since 2021.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the head gardeners at all three botanic ranges, who let me in before opening more times than was reasonable, and particularly to Nessa Kilmany in Dundee, who unlocked the propagation houses and then made the tea. Thanks also to the Anstruther Botanic Trust for the walled-garden access and for the loan of a very tall stepladder, and to Hamish Pike, who came to every one of these and has never once been interested in a photograph of a car park.