SEATTLE — “In the Pacific Northwest there are times of year where it’s hard to work outside or go outside because of the rain," said Justin Schroeder, REF manager for the Amazon Spheres. "It's 72 degrees and sunny every day of the year in The Spheres."
"You really feel like you're walking in the rainforest here!" Ciscoe said.
The Spheres in Downtown Seattle are feature more than 1,000 different species of plants from around the world to give the very feeling of walking in the understory of a rainforest.
“If you've never been inside here and you've seen it from the outside or seen photos coming inside for the first time. You see people just instantly get a smile on their face. It's really trying to connect both our Amazon employees and the public with nature in an urban setting,” Schroeder said.
One of many varieties of plants housed in the Spheres is the Theobroma cacao - the chocolate tree, with pods!
"We want to keep the fruit on there so we can show people what the fruit looks like in nature," Schroeder said.
According to Schroeder, Biophilia and biophilic design is something that Amazon is really leaning into at The Spheres.
“Biophilia is the innate love of nature that people have within them," Schroeder said. "So it's, I always explain it to people as if you go out in the forest and you're walking on a forest pathway and you feel that instant sense of just release and just stress goes away and just that calmness that's that connection with nature. I'm very proud to be able to give back in that way and provide a space for folks to come and and connect with nature."
In a treasure trove of plant life, Schroeder has one surprise for Ciscoe - the browneopsis ukialina."
"Oh my god look at this," Ciscoe said while looking at the red leaves with speckles of green.
“This is a slow growing plant," said Schroeder. "This tree if you can believe it is 9 years old but it has these amazing red and green mottled leaves when it leaves out. It's absolutely my favorite tree in the entire world."
"Well Justin, I am feeling biophilia coming on! Oh la la!," Ciscoe said.
The Spheres are located at 2111 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA and are open by reservation every first and third Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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