Lucy Bullivant explores the cathedral of seeds by Thomas Heatherwick.
April 27th, 2010
WORDS LUCY BULLIVANT
PHOTOGRAPHY DANIELE MATTIOLI
The UK Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 looks like a hedgehog having a snooze.
At night his spikes glow like a giant halo. Tens of thousands of tiny points of light illuminate hundreds of seeds encased within the tips of 60,000 fibre optic filaments piercing the walls of the 25m structure set on a bed of angled silver astroturf.
Dubbed ‘the Seed Cathedral’ by designer Thomas Heatherwick, inside you can get a close look at the seeds at the ends of the filaments.
These cover the curvacuous inner walls in a giant hair-brush effect and gently undulate in response to changing light and wind conditions.
‘We made a deliberate choice to avoid having tv screens, flashing led lights and big text panels’, says designer of the Pavilion, Thomas Heatherwick. ‘It’s experiential and meaningful’, spelling out the human value of seeds, sourced from China by the Millennium Seedbank at Kew Gardens, now collecting seeds of 25% of the world’s plant species by 2020.
Running along three edges of the site in a canopied circulation zone is an exhibition about Nature in London curated and designed by the wunderkind interactive trio Troika, who are never boring.
Kinetic Light Rain Engines along one walkway, poetic and playful, lead to a translucent urban diorama and fictitious plants, for example, leaves that stop thieves, mushrooms that absorb sound, gold weed for making computers out of.
Concocted with scientists and biologists in a welcome Dunne + Raby-like designers-as-mad-scientists touch, their biodiversity has few limits.
UK Pavilion Shanghai Expo
ukshanghaiexpo.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
The leading furniture supplier solidifies its Asia Pacific expansion with an immersive new showroom space.
Explore the captivating realm of molo, the world-renowned design studio led by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen. molo’s acclaimed soft collection celebrates a unique fusion of art, design, and architecture and – crucially – sustainability.
Grab a copy of Habitus 03, on sale today! The latest issue has a diverse selection of products, people and projects to delight and inspire. Habitus has travelled the Region to bring you insights from a range of creative personalities including Australian architectural photographer, John Gollings, Singaporean graphic designer, Theseus Chan and New Zealand architect, […]
Cosentino Australia has today announced a new collaboration with Neale Whitaker, judge on Channel Nine’s hit reality series, The Block and Editor of Vogue Living , who will act as local ambassador for the world leader in the production and distribution of innovative surfaces for architecture and design.
Klik Systems Australia upgrade their facilities, but don’t forget their workers in the process.
Zorro combines function with beautiful design. Its diagonal profile means that Zorro can be mounted on shorter posts to give cleaner lines in the workspace. This design also allows Zorro a wider range of horizontal movement of up to 460mm. The innovative ball joint gives the user full control over the screen angle to increase […]
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Prepare for a cultural awakening in the heart of Australia, as Mparntwe, also known as Alice Springs, prepares to host the 32nd edition of Desert Mob.
Caesarstone explores the boundaries of reality with an exceptional new addition to its Mineral Surface collection that blends airy lightness with sustainable performance.
Two years after Herman Miller and Knoll joined forces under the MillerKnoll brand, we explore why the establishment of this exciting collective was not only an inevitable progression for the two workplace design pioneers, but also a formative moment in contemporary design history.