UK pavilion at shanghai world expo 2010

UK pavilion at shanghai world expo 2010


UK pavilion at shanghai expo 2010
image © designboom




the concept behind thomas heatherwick's UK pavilion at shanghai expo 2010,
is an enclosure that throws outwards from all sides, a mass of long radiating cilia.

the centerpiece of the pavilion is the seed cathedral, a six storey high cube-like structure,
pierced by approximately 60 000 x 7.5m long slim transparent acrylic rods which sway gently
in response to any wind movement. during the day each of these rods act like fibre
optic filaments, drawing on daylight in order to illuminate the interior. at night, light sources
at the interior end of each rod allow the whole structure to glow from the outside.

the pavilion is situated on a landscape which resembles paper which once wrapped
the building, but now lies unfolded on the site. the surrounding space provides an open
venue for public events and along with shelter for visitors.



the union jack is visible on the exterior
image © designboom




image © designboom




side view
image © designboom




detail of rods from the exterior
image © designboom




visitors walking through the seed pavilion
image © designboom





image © designboom




image © designboom




detail of seeds imprinted on the ends of rods
image © designboom




the curvature of the rods
image © designboom





the seed cathedral at night
image © designboom





image © designboom




the rods connected to electrical circuits
image © designboom




the rods glowing at night
image © designboom




the exterior at night
image © designboom




image © designboom




the view of shanghai city behind the pavilion
image © designboom
ridhika db
05.06.10  
23
awesome..
cigdem   05.06.10
one of the best pavilions without a doubt.
totally awesome.
CharlieGm   05.06.10
wow thats a nice pavillion!!! omg !! totally awesome
Alex Dandan   05.06.10
awesome [2]
Kael   05.06.10
The best one without doubt!
What a brilliant mind...
nakar   05.06.10
As a spanish architect I like the spanish pavillion, but I must say this is by far the best one.
ignacio   05.07.10
what a cool design. Brillant.
Onur   05.07.10
gives me a headache to look at :( seriously, very weird.
Clarkson   05.07.10
amazing idea, even more amazing engineering achievement?
F   05.07.10
My great grandmother used to have these kind of glowing fibreoptic dealies on her coffee table back in the 80's...
Tomsright   05.07.10
I hate it when people have great ideas. Well done Heatherwick for creating something truly spectacular.

Best pavilion by a long distance
paul.   05.07.10
hmm...designboom posted an article on this before. I think it looks good close up when you can see the seeds, but tacky when shown REALLY close up. And from a distance... I'm just not sure it works. It just looks unattractive and odd. Like a weird artificial shrub.

No doubt spectacular if you actually see it though...
Pedro   05.07.10
pedro - what's your point?
eh?!   05.07.10
£25 million to build... Looks great but how many starving people in the world could be fed with that amount of money?
Hmmm... A little 'show-offy' if you ask me.
Bob   05.08.10
I like the concept, but I really dislike the design and execution.
hachee   05.08.10
what an awesome concept with great thought of the lightings too, keep it up :)
RRR   05.08.10
esse edificil é lindo sem falar no interior abordando varias sementos dentro daqueles bastãos
acacio emerson   05.08.10
It looks amazing from the outside but the inside seems empty and drab, a few seeds stuck to each rod in an empty room.
style over content   05.09.10
This design of UK pavillion and the previous one of this Heatherwick Studio is coming first from the french R&Sie(n) group in 2001
designboom
But in this case it was not a pilosity to produce a decor for Chinese word fair but as a powerstation…for transferring sun energy in the Unplug sustainability…
Why architects are always reducing ideas to aesthetic scleroses ?
noname   05.09.10
amazing!
ana chelfan   05.10.10
Spectacular! It looks so ethereal
Pauline   05.11.10
wow, i don't want to be the guy who has to clean this thing from birdshit... xD
still- awesome!
dM   05.11.10
Rule Britania! Rule Mr Heatherwick! I bet it was quite a walk form Knightsbridge...RESPECT!
Flip   05.12.10

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