Britain’s Amazing Seed Cathedral at Shanghai Expo http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/britains-amazing-seed-cathedral-at-shanghai-expo.html#more-15622 Britain’s Amazing Seed Cathedral at Shanghai Expo By Spooky on May 4th, 2010 Category: Architecture, Pics By far the most popular structure, at the Shanghai Expo 2010, even before it was officially opened, the Seed Cathedral is a six storey high cube-shaped structure, pierced by 60,000 thin acrylic rods. Each 7.5 meter long rod sways at the slightest wind movement, adding the dramatic effect of the design. Just like fiber optics, the acrylic rods draw in the light from the outside, and illuminate the inside. At night, the artificial light, on the inside, is projected to the outside, making the Seed Cathedral glow. But Britain’s awe-inspiring building isn’t called Seed Cathedral, for no reason. On the inside, each rod has one or more seeds encased in it. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, this architectural wonder has already won the hearts of its visitors, who have nicknamed it “The Dandelion”. =========================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_Cathedral Wikipedia The UK pavilion at Expo 2010, colloquially known as the Seed Cathedral, was a sculpture structure built by a nine member conglomeration of British business and government resources directed by designer Thomas Heatherwick. It referenced the race to save seeds from round the world in banks, and housed 60,000 plant seeds at the end of acrylic rods, held in place by geometrically-cut holes with the rods inserted therein. The structure stood where it was built, at a cost of £25 million, in Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo and won the BIE gold award for best pavilion design. The cathedral's architecture was an elaboration of Heatherwick's 2003 work of the Sitooterie II in Essex, United Kingdom. The UK Pavilion catered to over 100 public and private sector events, hundreds of VIP and dignitary visits and over seven million general public visitors during the 6 months of Expo. The cathedral has now been dismantled, with some rods donated to schools, some donated to the World Expo Museum and some being auctioned for charity. ============================ http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick.html TED video - Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral --------------------------- http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/awe-inspiring-seed-cathedral-wows-at-shanghai-world-expo-2010-photos.html Treehugger.com Awe Inspiring Seed Cathedral Wows at Shanghai World Expo 2010 (Photos) Leonora Oppenheim Design / Sustainable Product Design April 27, 2010 Images via: dezeen.com and despoke.com The fierce competition between showstopping pavilions is heating up in Shanghai as the opening of the World Expo 2010 draws nearer (May 1). But one pavilion has already been drawing in the crowds throughout its construction, thanks to an extraordinary bristling form of 60,000 fibre-optic rods, each with a seed implanted in its tip. The UK Pavilion, otherwise known as the Seed Cathedral, created by British design star Thomas Heatherwick and his studio, is quite simply the most extraordinary structure we have ever seen. And that's just the outside, wait till you see the seeds inside... Uniquely British Design Innovation The UK Pavilion's job at the Shanghai World Expo is to promote the strength of Britain's reputation for design innovation. Thomas Heatherwick is definitely the go to guy in the UK for unique showstopping structures and, from all the images, it looks like he has outdone even himself this time. Of the all pavilions at the Expo it looks like the UK's Seed Cathedral is attracting the most attention, no mean feat since there are 230 different pavilions on show. Seed Cathedral sways in the breeze As Despoke.com reports the Seed Cathedral is "20 metres in height, formed from 60,000 slender transparent rods, each 7.5 metres long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they act as optic fibres and 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." Shanghai World Expo 2010 Theme - Better City, Better Life The UK Pavilion rather sensibly doesn't aim to compete with Asian high-tech solutions, but goes for a spectacular low-tech approach instead. Heatherwick Studio describe their approach as engaging "meaningfully with Shanghai Expo's theme, Better City, Better Life, and standing out from the anticipated trend for technology driven pavilions, filled with audio-visual content on screens, projections and speakers." Working with Kew Gardens' Millenium Seedbank Project We love Heatherwick's idea of combining a complex structure with a simple, quiet, reverent message. The designer says he was inspired by the "relationship between nature and cities" and decided to celebrate the UK's beautiful green spaces by teaming up with the world famous Kew Gardens in London and the Millennium Seedbank project, whose mission is to collect the seeds of 25% of the world's plant species by 2020. The seeds for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from China's Kunming Institute of Botany, a partner in Kew Royal Botanic Gardens' Millennium Seed Bank Project. The interior experience of the Seed Cathedral sounds just as magical as viewing the exterior structure, "Visitors will pass through this tranquil, contemplative space, surrounded by the tens of thousands of points of light illuminating the seeds." Seed Cathedral Structure The supporting structure of the UK Pavilion is made from wood and steel which is pierced with 60 000 holes for each one of the aluminum sleeves which hold the fiber optic rods. This 'low-tech' solution actually had a very 'high-tech' method of execution: "The holes in the 1 metre thick wood diaphram 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." Heatherwick Studio says that, "75% of the materials for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from within a radius of 300km around Shanghai." UK Pavilion's Afterlife Heatherwick Studio reports that the Seed Cathedral has already found favour with the Chinese public, who have nick-named the pavilion 'Pu Gong Ying', which translates as 'The Dandelion'. We are also glad to hear that the studio have planned for the afterlife of the pavilion when the World Expo ends. "After the Expo, just as dandelion seeds are blown away and disperse on the breeze, the Seed Cathedral's 60,000 optic hairs, each one containing the huge potential of life, will be distributed across China and the UK to hundreds of schools as a special legacy of the UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo." Of the extraordinary design and engineering production that is the UK Pavilion Thomas Heatherwick says, "It has been a tremendous achievement of the team to deliver such a complex structure. I am excited that the Seed Cathedral is now complete and I look forward to the millions of visitors to the Expo enjoying the space." ========================== http://www.yatzer.com/2173_seed_cathedral_for_the_uk_shanghai_pavilion_by_heatherwick_studio Yatzer.com Seed Cathedral for the UK Shanghai Pavilion by Heatherwick studio published in: Architecture By Marcia Argyriades, 06 April 2010 photo © Daniele Mattioli Organizers of the 2010 World Expo, as well as construction workers are busily working towards being fully organized for the planned opening of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China on May 1, 2010. The specific event is planned to be the largest World Expo in history ever since it began in 1851 with the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace. The theme of the Expo is "Better City, Better Life", and is scheduled to run until October 31, 2010. For the past few months, large construction and renovation projects have dominated much of Shanghai, in preparation for becoming the World's stage on May 1st. Up to 800,000 visitors are expected each day - a total of 70 million visitors in all visiting exhibitions from nearly 200 participants around the world. photo © Daniele Mattioli Sponsored by the Bureau International des Expositions, the Shanghai Expo will be the largest the world has seen till this day. The Expo is staged on a 5.28 square kilometer city center site beside the Huangpu River, and features pavilions which represent the ideas and cultural and commercial ambitions of more than 200 countries and international organizations. video © UK Shangai Pavilion // Expo 2010 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. The UK Pavilion has been designed by Heatherwick Studio, which is led by the internationally-acclaimed English designer Thomas Heatherwick, His design team won the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) commission to create the Pavilion following a competition that attracted a shortlist of ambitious architectural proposals from other teams. photo © Daniele Mattioli Heatherwick Studio’s initial design strategic approach 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 demonstration of what it was exhibiting. The second aim 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. photo © Daniele Mattioli photo © Daniele Mattioli In collaboration with other design teams Heatherwick Studio developed a design concept where the UK Pavilion explores the relationship between nature and city. After all London happens to be the greenest city of its size in the world; the UK pioneered the world’s first ever public park and the world’s first major botanical institution, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. What a better way to advertize the UK with a rather unconventional approach, the Seed Cathedral. photo © Daniele Mattioli On a 6,000 square meter UK Pavilion site sits the Seed Cathedral carefully centered. The Seed Cathedral is 20 meters tall and is formed from 60,000 slender transparent fiber optic rods. Each fiber optic rod is 7.5 meters long and encloses 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 allowing the entire structure to glow. When the wind blows the optic “hairs” gently move as they create a dynamic effect for the viewers. Inside the darkened inner chamber of the Seed Cathedral” the tips of the fiber optic filaments form an apparently hovering galaxy of slim vitrines containing a vast array of embedded seeds.” © Heatherwick Studio The fiber optic filaments are quite responsive to exterior lighting circumstances and any fluctuations in the exterior natural lighting are experienced as an unpredictable luminosity. With the Seed Cathedral, Heatherwick Studio intently wants to create an atmosphere of admiration, respect and worship about the collection of the world’s botanical resources. However, having achieved such a spectacular Pavilion what sounds best of all is that it was the British government’s intention that most of the materials of the UK Pavilion will be reused or recycled at the end of the Expo. © Heatherwick Studio Lead Designer: Heatherwick Studio Key Construction Materials: steel and timber composite structure, 60,000 fiber optic filaments, aluminum sleeves Site area: 6000 square meters Seed Cathedral dimensions: 25m x 25m x 20m Seed Cathedral floor area: 105 square meters Optic fibers: 60,588 Optic fibers length: 7.5 meters Seeds in Seed Cathedral: 217,300 Landscape area: 4490 square meters Public park area: 2405 square meters Accommodation area: 1525 square meters Exhibition area: 1280 square meters © Heatherwick Studio © Heatherwick Studio sources: UK Shanghai Pavilion , Heatherwick Studio Related Articles Prev Seed Cathedral for the UK Shanghai Pavilion by Heatherwick studio Next Permanent Link Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Digg It Stumble It Heatherwick Studio About Heatherwick Studio Heatherwick Studio exists to make extraordinary projects happen. Established by Thomas Heatherwick in 1994, it is recognized for its work in: architecture, urban infrastructure, sculpture, furniture design and strategic thinking. Team members come from disciplinary backgrounds that include architecture, product design, model-making, fabrication, landscape design, fine art and curation. The team structure has relatively few layers of hierarchy. Six areas of special responsibility are each looked after by a Team Leader: people, studio, business, craft, planning and the Hong Kong studio. And while the whole team contributes to design processes, each project is managed by a Project Leader, in close contact with the client. Heatherwick Studio’s Associate Directors include Fred Manson, the former environment director of London Borough of Southwark who commissioned Tate Modern, Peckham Library and the Millennium Bridge, and the structural engineer Ron Packman. Thomas is an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and a Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art. He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from four British universities – Sheffield Hallam, Brighton, Dundee and Manchester Metropolitan. He has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize and in 2006, was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry. He has served on numerous judging and advisory panels and has given lectures, tutorials and talks at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Yale University. Heatherwick Studio operates from premises in Kings Cross, central London. Part of the studio has always been a workshop for making models, experimental pieces and prototypes. With this resource, it has been possible for Heatherwick Studio to act as a contractor on its projects. Heatherwick Studio’s clients include: property developers, publicly limited companies, sovereign wealth funds, religious communities, the British government, local authorities, charitable trusts, a school, a hospital, a luggage company, landed estates, museums and private individuals. [official website] ------------------------------ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_GVcApKDQ YouTube video --------------- http://inhabitat.com/construction-complete-on-the-uks-stunning-seed-cathedral/ The Daily Mike Chino Construction Complete on the UK's Stunning Seed Cathedral by Mike Chino, 04/05/10 filed under: Architecture, Botanical, Sustainable Building Share on Tumblr Email Shanghai Expo 2010, thomas heatherwick, uk pavilion, sustainable design, green design, sustainable architecture, green building, seed bank, pincushion building, porcupine building The brilliant bristling structure you see above is not the world’s largest pincushion – it’s Thomas Heatherwick‘s recently completed UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Dubbed the “Seed Cathedral”, the six-story high structure is studded with 60,000 translucent rods that act as fiber-optic filaments that channel sunlight into the pavilion’s interior. The densely-packed forest of filaments also contains the impetus to create living forests in the future — each 7.5 meter long “branch” contains seeds from the Millenium Seed Bank that will be given to China one the expo has run its course. Shanghai Expo 2010, thomas heatherwick, uk pavilion, sustainable design, green design, sustainable architecture, green building, seed bank, pincushion building, porcupine building Nicknamed the “Dandelion”, Thomas Heatherwick‘s UK Pavilion bristles with a dynamic facade that gently flexes and shimmers with each passing breeze. The beautiful building envelope blurs the boundaries between architecture and animated sculpture, while the area surrounding the pavilion features a network of pedestrian walkways and a landscaped park area. Shanghai Expo 2010, thomas heatherwick, uk pavilion, sustainable design, green design, sustainable architecture, green building, seed bank, pincushion building, porcupine building Nestled within the sprouting facade of seeds is an otherworldly interior that unfolds like a shimmering network of stars. During the day the interior is completely lit by daylight channeled through the structure’s transparent rods. At night the interior is illuminated by minute lighting elements contained within each rod for an amazing effect. Read more: Construction Complete on the UK's Stunning Seed Cathedral | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building