A £15m education centre called The Core has opened within the Millennium Commission Lottery funded Eden Project in Cornwall, UK.

Taking more than two years to construct, The Core’s design is based on how plants grow, incorporating a canopy roof and central trunk.

The Core’s roof incorporates a intricate web of curved timber beams in a design based on Fibonacci spirals – a design common to many natural forms including snail shells.

It will also be familiar to any Dan Brown afficionados, as the Fibonacci sequence is heavily featured in The Da Vinci Code.

The Core will be used to host exhibitions, events and the Eden Project’s existing schools programmes.

Among the exhibits is a display called The Plant Engine, a model of photosynthesis in which a giant lamp representing the sun rises and falls above a huge glass sphere full of real plants.

The sphere then pumps oxygen through connecting tubes to bring to ‘life’ a series of automata in bell jars.

The major sponsors of The Core were the Millennium Commission (£10.5m), South West Regional Development Agency (£2.9m) and Objective One (£1m), with the balance coming from a number of smaller contributors.

s Eden's chief executive Tim Smit said today: “I hate exaggeration so I’ll tell you the simple truth. This is the finest modern building in the world, and anyone who says that they can show me a better looking one is either a liar or a clairvoyant.” Details: www.edenproject.com