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Seed Cathedral

Shanghai Expo 2010 UK Pavilion Designer: Thomas Heatherwick

The Seed Cathedral is a sculpture structure built by a nine member conglomeration of British business and government resources helmed by designer Thomas Heatherwick. It references the race to save seeds from round the world in banks, and therefore the cathedral houses 60,000 plant seeds at the end of acrylic rods, held in place by geometrically cut holes with the rods inserted therein. The structure stands where it was built, at a cost of £25 million, in Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo.

The cathedral's architecture is an elaboration of Heatherwick's 2003 work of the Sitooterie II in Essex, United Kingdom.

More sculpture than building, the UK Pavilion, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, comprises 60,000 transparent acrylic rods, each 7.5 meters long, piercing a wooden frame. By day, the rods bring light to the interior, but at night they glow from LEDs. The ends of the rods contain seeds from the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species at the Kunming Institute of Botany, which gives the pavilion its nickname, the “Seed Cathedral.” When a breeze comes off the Huangpu River, it animates the pavilion, setting the translucent tentacles in slow motion. Inside, waving walls of rods surround a central island of yet more rods emerging from the floor. A few exhibits hanging onto slanted roofs over the exterior walkways seem designed to stay out of the way of the building’s idealized main form.

Thematic Pavilion

Architecture Firm: SOMA, located in Austria

Location: 2012 World EXPO, Yeosu Korea

Austrian firm SOMA has won the winning design proposal for thematic paviliton it planned for expo 2012 at Yeosu in Korea. The pavilion dubbed as kinetic media facade takes its inspiration from the ocean waves and was developed according to the bionic principles to underline the expo’s agenda. Its spatial surface takes a twist from vertical to horizontal orientation with its endless surface and an immersed tail.

The conglomeration of the solid vertical cones forms a meandering coastline that merges well with the water. The topographic lines of the roof turn into lamellas that face the expo’s entrance and the ‘digital gallery’. The building’s the main entrance is situated on ocean plaza, which is partly covered by the pavilion to achieve a shaded outdoor waiting area. The foyer and the best practice are very well ventilated. The interstitial spaces between the cones create air nozzles for proper air circulation. During daytime the kinetic lamellas control the amount of solar input.

While the bridges connect the pavilion to the expo site after the expo the promenade will be transformed into an ‘urban beach’ offering leisure activities to the public. The offices, technical and storage areas are all located underneath the landscape part of the building.

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