The UK Pavilion is made of 60,000 rods that act like fibre-optic filaments
Leah Lamb
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The World Expo is that place where every country can shine and show off their creativity and innovations. Most of the countries opted to wow the audiences with high tech innovations. However The UK circumnavigated the obvious and developed an experiential design that encouraged the audience’s curiosity and awareness about the relationship between mankind and the natural world. The UK Pavilion demonstrates the relationship between innovation, nature and science and encourages the audience to wonder whether it could be used to solve the current social, economic and environmental challenges of our cities.
The result: A seed cathedral.
The pavilion was developed by Thomas Heatherwick and the UK creative agency, Troika, who collaborated with the Kew Millennium Seed Bank Partnership. “The centrepiece of the UK pavilion is a six storey high object formed from some 60,000 slender transparent rods, which extend from the structure and quiver in the breeze. During the day, each of the 7.5m long rods act like fibre-optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior, thereby creating a contemplative awe-inspiring space. At night, light sources at the interior end of each rod allow the whole structure to glow."
Inside the Seed Cathedral is a unique visual representation of the UK’s gift to China, a donation of seeds via the Kew Millennium Seed Bank partnership, the largest collection of wild plant seeds in the world.
Britain claims that one of it’s claims to fame is it’s creation of garden squares, public parks (which Britain pioneered), individual gardens, window boxes and allotments. An amazing fact (and slightly shocking) is that Britain claims that it’s urban and suburban gardens are among the richest and most diverse habitats for wildlife in the UK. As you enter into the expo, your first exposure is to maps…of green space… rather than roads. A few other clever touches were the electronic “rain drops” that fell on the ground as you approached the inside (integrated since Britain is a tad rainy), and on your way out there is an exhibit of futuristic possibilities~ bio-engineered plants that may assist you capturing the DNA of a robber, or diagnosing an illness.
I got a kick out of these imaginary plants they may be invented in the future:
This one may be invented to produce oil:
While this one may capture the DNA of a thief as he escapes... (remember these are imaginative designs referencing how plants might be utilized in the future).
Did it work? Was I wowed? You betcha. The UK Pavilion is a welcome breath of fresh air among the crowded Pavilions. Even while you only spend 10 minutes at most inside (after all, how long can you look at a bunch of seeds), the design from start to finish is engaging and thought provoking. While the UK is giving the seeds to China, the real gift to the audience is the open space “park” you step onto upon completing your tour through the exhibit; a rare opportunity within the expo to have space to actually contemplate what you just experienced.
If you don’t have plans to get to Shanghai by the end of October, I recommend taking the virtual tour of the UK Pavilion, or play their iGreen Guardian eco game (you may need to check “English” in the upper right corner).
More on saving seeds
More Than Pretty Heirloom Tomatoes: Saving Seeds Critical to Combatting Climate Change
Why You Should Save Seeds from Your Garden
TED Talk: Save Our Future by Saving the Seeds (Video)
How to Save Seeds from Your Vegetable Garden
