Thomas Heatherwick capped his adaptation of a historic paper mill in southern England into a production facility and visitor center for Bombay Sapphire gin with a grandiose gesture. Among a cluster of industrial structures dating back to the 18th century, an asymmetrical pair of fluted glass domes erupts from the brick walls of what is now the main distillery hall. These surrealist greenhouses showcase the plants that give the gin its trademark ten botanical notes.

The large-scale bell jars are the centerpiece of a five-acre mill complex that the firm renovated for Bombay Sapphire, and the bulbous forms do double duty for the gin maker. They provide visitors with a spectacle of contemporary design acrobatics, but they also lend the brand a sense of heritage by referencing historic architecture. “We wanted to take that Victorian history of glass construction forward into the 21st-century,” says project architect Eliot Postma, citing the Palm Houses at Kew Gardens and the original Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton as sources of inspiration.