The first glasshouse to be built at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) at Kew in London, UK for two decades has opened to the public.

The Alpine House, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, provides a home to the gardens’ alpine collection and replaces an earlier structure which was deemed “poorly positioned” by the RBG.

To house the delicate collection, the Alpine House’s twin arches have been designed to create enough height to draw warm air out of the building while a shading solution will keep summer temperatures at required levels.

The 300-acre RBG attracts around one million visitors each year and was awarded World Heritage Site status in 2003.