Visiting Bezos Balls (Inside the Amazon Spheres)

The balls are now open for employees to take visitors into them.  No reservation required at this time.  As they become more popular that is likely to change.  

Rae took us in before lunch yesterday to show us the place and it's attributes.  There are a couple food counters in the buildings on two of the levels and tables, chairs, benches and conference areas on each level.  We talked to one of the sphere's "docents".  She has a degree in horticulture and her job sure beats agriculture work.  She's inside, with warm, moist air that's good for her complexion, I'm  sure.  Luckily she doesn't have curly hair or every day would be a bad hair day.

She told us that there are 700 species of plants.  One of the unusual ones is the spiral ginger, with a red bulb and yellow spiral flower.  There are full-size ficus trees, shrubs, etc. There are hundreds of pitcher plants scattered throughout the exhibits.  The 5 storey plant wall is not the only wall.  On the top level there is another 20-30" plant wall.  These walls, and some smaller ones on the other levels all have pitcher plants in them.  Surprisingly, there were few if any insects and I figure the number of pitcher plants is a pretty good insect control system.

Spiral ginger flowering

There are concrete tree trunks in several areas that are cover for ventilation fans.

Something unexpected, a cocoa tree, complete with cocoa pods.

Pitcher plant are interesting.  The closer to the ground they are, the darker the lip of the plant due to the uptake of minerals from the soil. 

The structures are really interesting.  Similar to geodesic domes, but the hexagonal construction is supported by an internal steel structure that tends to cover the geodesic aspects. The internal provides support for the internal levels and the building mechanicals. There is a ground floor space that is open to the public at this time.  It's called the Understory.  We didn't have time to go through it but it shows how the spheres are constructed and we'll be back on some future trip downtown.  The next slideshow focuses on some of the structure and meeting /work spaces in the spheres.  

The top of the big tree from the top level.

A conference cage on the third level.  No reservation required.

A bird's nest conference area.  The wooden walkway is constructed like a suspension bridge.  The wooden slats are strung on several cables that run through them so there's springiness when you walk on them.

At the top of the tall tree.

The large rings support lights and serve as a track for the lights to move around to provide a natural environment.

The 50' plant wall from the top level.

I'd like to go back during other seasons to see the differences in flowering plants.  There are several we'd not seen before.

The next few shots are of flowering plants on the plant wall.

The plant wall on the left is the shorter one, located on the top level.  

Th', th',that's all folks.  Not sure how long it'll be before the next posting.  We had hoped to be on the road well before now but health issues are holding us near town.  Still plan on the long cross-country road trip from May through mid-july.  It will be close to 10 weeks on the road with Bozo.  

So, Ciao for now.