UK Pavilion

130 X 194 cm     ac     2010/5/23

The first World Expo came about in the United Kingdom and was then known as the Great Exhibition, held in the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park. In the Shanghai Expo, the United Kingdom presents a dazzling cube formed by more than 60,000 slim and transparent acrylic rods containing seeds of different plants.

Themed “Building on the Past, Shaping our future,” the 6000-square-meter UK pavilion is also known as the “Seed Cathedral” and the area around it is designed like a wrapping paper, making it seem as if the wrappers have fallen open to reveal a sparkling jewel of life. The UK pavilion hopes to raise awareness for the Millennium Seed Bank Project, an international conservation project launched by the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2000. The seeds demonstrate the concept of sustainability, the diversity of nature and the potential of life. During the daytime, each of these 7.5-meter-long rods draw on daylight to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources embedded in each rod allow the whole structure to glow.

Chen colors the “Seed Cathedral” as a bright, rainbow prism; and fills the outside square with a leisurely Expo audience. He designed a “father, mother, son statue”, a la Henry Moore to echo the Expo logo, and added Chinese and British flags flying in the distance.