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The most eye-catching new addition to The Royal Landscape is the Savill Building, opened in June 2006, with its undulating roof, shaped like a leaf, merging with the tall trees surrounding it. The design by Glenn Howells Architects uses a gridshell construction, a landmark feat of contemporary engineering, inspired by the strength and beauty of a seashell. Using sustainable timber from the Crown Estate forests – larch and oak for the roof and floor – the building was constructed as a single cell space over-sailed with a gridshell roof. From inside the vast cathedral-like central space the visitor can see the awesome, apparently self-supporting, green-wood roof, drawing the eye upwards and out towards the gardens through a glazed wall. Beneath the building, in its foundations, lies a time capsule which was prepared and filled by pupils of the Royal School, located in Windsor Great Park and buried in 2004. |