The fruiting trees and herbal shrubs selected for this landscape are inspired by ingredients used by chefs in restaurant kitchens around campus. Here you can find olives, figs, bay leaves, and plums! In the warmer months, you’ll also find patio seating for Willmott’s Ghost, a restaurant hidden within The Spheres, surrounded by the garden.
Named for the flowering plant botanist Ellen Willmott who was famous for surreptitiously planting flowers and trees in friends’ yards and in public places, Willmott’s Ghost focuses on the flavors of Rome and Italy at large. Deep Dive, an intimate watering hole named for one of Amazon’s Leadership Principles, is located on the Lenora side of the Spheres.
Did you know that at Amazon we have 16 Leadership Principles? These steer the entire company’s way of thinking and building. Deep Dive is named for the leadership principle Dive Deep which tells us that leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.
Looking up past the garden you’ll have a great view of The Spheres. These three intersecting domes range from 80 to 95 feet in height. They’re comprised of over 2,600 panes of glass and 620 tons of steel arranged with five-sided panels of a pentagonal hexecontahedron. Try saying that five times fast!
The Spheres were designed to incorporate nature into industrial environments which is referred to as biophilic design. Although largely reserved for employee use as a unique working space, The Spheres are open to the public through registration the first and third Saturday of each month.
Inside The Spheres, Amazon maintains more than 40,000 plants from over 30 countries. Since 2015, Amazon has maintained a separate greenhouse along with The Spheres to increase the yield of ethno-botanically important plants, or plants that are used by many different cultures. We cultivate a large number of rare species in partnership with global botanists. Fun fact: the tallest tree inside was installed with a crane through the very top of The Spheres. We have many carnivorous plants and even our own chocolate tree! Fair warning, licking the tree is not encouraged and it doesn’t taste like chocolate… not that we have tried…
