Press Release

HRH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH FORMALLY OPENS THE SAVILL BUILDING

26 June 2006

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened The Savill Building on the morning of 26 June 2006. His Royal Highness unveiled a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the building, on Queen’s Avenue, at the entrance to The Savill Garden. The building is open to the public from 27 June 2006.

The Savill Building is an iconic new visitor centre, and provides a new entrance to The Savill Garden and the gateway to The Royal Landscape, a unique man-made landscape located in the south-east corner of The Crown Estate's Windsor Great Park. For more information on The Royal Landscape and The Savill Building, please visit the The Royal Landscape website.

Designed by Glenn Howells Architects the Savill Building features a stunning grid shell design roof which, at nearly 100m in length, is the largest of its type in the UK.

Viewed from the outside, the curvaceous roof appears to float above the building and follows the undulating tree line of the park and gardens. Inside, the criss-cross lattice of the grid shell is fully exposed and, rising to over nine metres, creates an awe-inspiring internal space, subtly linked to the gardens outside through floor-to-ceiling glass panels.

The Savill Building is connected intimately with its immediate surroundings not only through its shape but also in the materials used for its construction. Both the larch in the roof structure and the oak used for the outer roof covering and the floor were harvested from forests managed by The Crown Estate’s Windsor Great Park forestry department.

From the front viewpoint a substantial earth-structure planted with juniper obscures all but the undulating roof. This is the shape that catches the eye on the approach along an avenue of newly planted oak trees.

The Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, Phillip Everett said: “The Savill Building offers visitors a truly impressive welcome to The Royal Landscape. It is unashamedly of the 21st century in its design and facilities but through its shape and use of materials it neither dominates, nor is diminished by the woodland and gardens around it.”

The Savill Building contains both a spacious shop and a restaurant. In the shop, visitors can choose from a wide selection of plants, books and other gifts, many of which have been created exclusively for The Savill Building, and based upon three principles – that they are rustic, organic or educational. For example, the Violet Click Beetle, a rare resident of old beech and oak trees in Windsor Great Park, features prominently in a specially designed stationery range.

The restaurant, run by Leith’s caterers, offers a mouth-watering range of simple, fresh and uncomplicated food and drink throughout the day in light and airy surroundings with stunning views of the garden.

Also, in the foundations of the building lies a time capsule prepared and filled by pupils of the Royal School, which is located in Windsor Great Park.

The amenities are tucked into the earth-structure, whilst visitors have a spectacular view of The Savill Garden either indoors or on the terrace overlooking the garden. The roof overhangs the wide terrace, providing additional protection to this year-round outside seating area.

From the terrace, the avenue of upright oaks continues in line with those in the car park and leads down to a viewing platform from where visitors can take in the panoramas of The Savill Garden.