The Seed Cathedral

  • eddstarr88
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    • 7 months 29 days ago
    • Posts: 13248




    Now that London has completed its hosting duties as the Olympic city for 2012 I think this is a good time to look back at an earlier achievement, the UK Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, from May to October 2010.

    Often called "The Seed Cathedral", the idea of this pavilion was a gift to the people of China from the people of the United Kingdom. The first images of this pavilion left me speechless. I still find this building stunning to look at.

    And I'm not alone, since its dismantling at the end of Expo 2010 in November, 2010, the buzz surrounding this gift from the UK continues. It goes beyond the building to the gift itself - thousands of seeds from all parts of China. The acrylic rods that make up the building contain seeds. These rods were sent to schools all over China.

    So the UK Pavilion still exists, only now in the hands of thousands of children.

    Images of the UK Pavilion...

    The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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  • thecrow174
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    • 7 months 29 days ago
    • Posts: 24026
    		 That's really amazing! I can hardly take my eyes off it.

    Welcome back btw.
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  • eddstarr88
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    • 7 months 29 days ago
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    		 Great to be back my old friend! Thanks for keeping an eye on the place while I was gone. I'll try to show up more often if I'm able.

    Now the the UK Pavilion has been taken down images of the building are finding a home on quite a few pc desktops. I'm convinced that this structure will become a notable achievement of the early 21st century. One for the history books you might say.
    The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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  • vkimo
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    • 7 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 2093
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    		 Great to see you around Edd, hope the Tressa is treating you good! Amazing structure, like the worlds biggest dandelion.
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  • eddstarr88
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    • 7 months 28 days ago
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    		 Hey thanks v-man. Yeah, the TRESSA has been a good deal for me. Now I have to get used to having neighbors again. They finally started populating my floor with new tenants and it's great to see children again. The kids will have access to the rec rooms on each floor while us oldies claim the lounge/club house area on the ground floor.

    I like your comparison to a dandelion. One of the original designs for the UK Pavilion was a sphere but the building went through several design changes before settling on the "gift box" design with the surrounding grounds shaped to look like wrapping paper.

    Here's the UK Pavilion page from Heatherwick Studio site. Check out the go to images link at the bottom of the page:

    Heatherwick Studio, London...
    The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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