Not long ago, we had a post on Freshome about Shanghai Expo 2010 where we “exhibited” several pavilion designs that will be presented at the worldwide event. Today we would like to focus more on the UK Pavilion by Thomas Heatherwick. “The Seed Cathedral” features 60,000 fiber-optic rods which pierce through the six-level structure. Each rod contains seeds from the Millennium Seed Bank in Great Britain.
Here is more information from Thomas Heatherwick: “The Seed Cathedral sits in the center of the UK Pavilion’s site, 20 meters in height, formed from 60,000 slender transparent rods, each 7.5 meters long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they act as optic fibers 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 ” Stunning! You might also want to check out the video featuring the building’s incredible interiors.- via Dezeen
- Posted in Architecture
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By Lavinia
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This is really interesting. First: we love seeds and the whole idea of the seed bank. Second: fiber optics can do some amazing things with lighting. Third: the form is going to look great with a little breeze. Fantastic.
It reminds me of gigantic sea urchin. It’s quite cool. Large amount of work put into it, but the effect’s worth it.
wonderful pictures