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RHS Hilltop

Exterior of the RHS Hilltop
Location
Surrey, United Kingdom
Status
Completed
Year
2021
Experience
Cultural
Workplace
Gardens
Life Sciences
Awards

2023 RIBA South East Regional Awards

2022 WAN Awards, Bronze, Civic Institutes and Community Space

RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science is the UK’s first dedicated gardening science hub, commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society for their Wisley gardens in Surrey.

The ground-breaking new centre for horticultural science and learning showcases the RHS’s previously unseen scientific work and provides specialist facilities for ongoing research, helping to inspire the next generation of horticulturists and create a greener future for the UK.

Located on a hilltop site, the unique facility measures 4750sqm and provides state-of-the-art scientific laboratories, public exhibition space, teaching studios, an events hall and new facilities for the RHS’s nationally significant Herbarium, science and library collections.

Exterior of the RHS Hilltop
Exterior of the RHS Hilltop

The building is surrounded by four acres of science gardens or ‘living laboratories’. The newly landscaped gardens, designed by Matt Keightley and Ann-Marie Powell, comprise a health and wellbeing garden outside the main entrance, a west-facing world kitchen garden and an east-facing wildlife garden.

Mature trees already on-site frame the new building which has been sensitively positioned to respect the rich horticultural context and legacy. Distinct two-storey wings splay into the different gardens, maximising visual connections between indoor and outdoor activity. The east wing is dedicated to the laboratories and library collections, while the west wing accommodates more public-facing facilities including education activities.

Interior exhibition of the RHS Hilltop
Library at the RHS Hilltop
Interior exhibition of the RHS Hilltop
Entrance of the RHS Hilltop

The internal and external materials palette balances the warmth of natural materials with the simplicity of exposed concrete and steel structural elements. Both wings are clad in sustainably sourced and naturally weathering sweet chestnut timber and the first-floor window frames protrude from the timber cladding to provide solar shading. The wings are connected by a double height glazed public exhibition space, which features a pitched roof clad in standing seam metal, while an architectural cantilevered canopy marks the main entrance.

Aerial view of the RHS Hilltop

Design Development

Sketch of the RHS Hilltop

Architectural Model of the RHS Hilltop

Architectural Model of the RHS Hilltop

Related
Interior exhibition of the RHS Hilltop
Architects' Journal Awards 2022
We're delighted to have four projects shortlisted
exterior of rhs hilltop
We have completed RHS Hilltop - The Home of Gardening Science
The new building and surrounding gardens opened on the 24 June
Exterior of Alpine House at Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is recognised as a world leader in the field of plant science, with its 300-acre site alongside the River Thames evolving over 250 years.
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