Pavillon britannique de l'Exposition Universelle de Shanghai, 2010…

Founder in 1994 of the Heatherwick Studio, Thomas Heatherwick designed the British Pavilion for Expo Shanghai in 2010. Occupying 105m2 of a landscaped 6,000 m2 site, the building was fitted with 60,588 acrylic and aluminium rods, 7.50 m in length, which extended 5 metres beyond the envelope. These contained LEDs which generated a halo-like glow outside and illuminated the 217,300 seeds embedded in the ends of the rods inside. This “seed library” was realized in partnership with Kew Gardens’ Millennium Seed Bank – whose goal is to collect the seeds of 25% of the world’s plants by 2020 – and its local collaborator, the renowned Kunming Institute of Botany. The pavilion thus gained the nickname of “The Seed Cathedral.”