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Description

The UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo expresses British creativity and environmental engagement at the biggest event of its kind since the Expo phenomenon began in 1851 with the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace. Held under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions, the Shanghai Expo is the largest the world has ever seen. The UK Pavilion was designed by Heatherwick Studio. Led by the internationally-acclaimed Thomas Heatherwick, his design team won the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) commission.

The studio’s initial design strategy for the UK Pavilion established three aims to meet the FCO’s key expectation that the pavilion should become one of the five most popular attractions at the Expo. The first aim was to design a pavilion whose architecture was a direct manifestation of what it was exhibiting. The second idea was to ensure a significant area of open public space around it so visitors could relax and choose either to enter the pavilion building, or see it clearly from a calm, non-queuing vantage point. And thirdly, it would be unique among the hundreds of other competing pavilions, events and programs.

In collaboration with a wider project team, the studio developed the idea of the UK Pavilion exploring the relationship between nature and cities. From here came Heatherwick’s idea of involving Kew Gardens Millennium Seedbank whose mission is to collect the seeds of 25% of the world’s plant species by 2020. The design process evolved to produce two interlinked and experiential elements: an architecturally iconic Seed Cathedral, and a multi-layered landscape treatment of the 6,000m2 site.

The Seed Cathedral sits in the centre of the pavilion’s site, 20 meters in height, formed from 60,000 slender transparent fibre optics rods, each 7.5 meters long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they draw daylight inwards to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources inside each rod allow the whole structure to glow. As the wind moves past, the building and its optic “hairs” gently move to create a dynamic effect. Inside the darkened inner sanctum of the Seed Cathedral, the tips of the fibre optics filaments form an apparently hovering galaxy of slim vitrines containing a vast array of embedded seeds. Visitors will pass through this tranquil, contemplative space, surrounded by the tens of thousands of points of light illuminating the seeds.

The Seed Cathedral is made from a steel and timber composite structure pierced by 60,000 fibre optic filaments, 20mm square in section, which pass through aluminium sleeves. The holes in the 1 meter thick wood diaphragm structure forming the visitor space inside the Seed Cathedral were drilled with great geometric accuracy to ensure precise placement of the aluminium sleeves through which the optic fibre filaments are inserted. This was achieved using 3D computer modelling data, fed into a computer controlled milling machine.

Among the Expo’s sea of hard surfaces, the Seed Cathedral’s surroundings were conceived to act as a continuation of the building’s texture. A special artificial grass surface has been uniquely developed to act as a welcoming and restful public space for Expo visitors. Beneath the Seed Cathedral and the landscaped surface area is a canopied and naturally ventilated entrance and exit sequence for the Seed Cathedral. This circulation zone, running along three edges of the site, contains a narrative of three innovative environmental installations designed by London-based design studio, Troika.

Video | UK Pavilion | Heatherwick Studio | Expo Shanghai 2010

Biography

Heatherwick Studio
Thomas Heatherwick is one of the UK’s leading creative talents. Established in 1994, its studio’s work can’t be categorized within traditional boundaries, extending across art, architecture, product design and beyond. The Heatherwick Studio multi skilled team of architects, designers and makers operate from an office and workshop in King’s Cross, London.

Completed projects include the RIBA National award-winning East Beach Café; Longchamp’s La Maison Unique flagship store in New York and renowned Rolling Bridge in London. Heatherwick Studio is currently designing a new monastery for a dynamic community of monks and is working on a major redevelopment of Pacific Place, one of Hong Kong’s most established and well respected shopping malls.

Troika
Troika is a London based art and design practice founded in 2003 by Conny Freyer, Eva Rucki and Sebastien Noel.

With backgrounds in graphic and communication, art, product design and engineering, Troika's approach focuses on merging the arts and design disciplines, born out of a love for simplicity, playfulness, and an essential desire for provocation. Troika's work has been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum London, the Science Museum London, Tate Britain, at the British Council touring show in China at Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, and in 2008 at the MoMA in New York.

Troika's work is represented in the permanent collections of the British Council, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum Of Modern Art New York. Troika has edited two books to date: Digital by Design, 2008; Moscow Style, 2005. In 2009, Troika won the D&AD Yellow Pencil for their digital sculpture 'Cloud' in London Heathrow Terminal 5. Troika is currently working on a series of large-scale permanent installations in Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom.