UK Pavilion
Artist: Wolfgang Buttress
Architect: BDP
Year: 2015
Location: Milan Expo
Current Location: Kew Gardens, London
The UK Pavilion at the Expo centers on bees as ecological indicators, highlighting the crisis facing honey bees due to factors like pesticides and habitat loss. Collaborating with bee expert Dr. Martin Bencsik, the Pavilion integrates technology to monitor bee colonies, advancing beekeeping practices.
Concept & Structure
The architectural concept recreates a slice of the British countryside, featuring an orchard, meadow, terrace-bar, and central ‘Hive.’ This immersive experience aims to instill empathy and a sense of connectedness, allowing visitors to curate their journey and actively engage with nature. The Pavilion aligns with a renewed interest in beekeeping, emphasizing sustainable coexistence with the environment.
The Hive is an abstracted analogue of honeycomb, exhibiting radial hexagonal geometry in plan. The structure is an open lattice, forming a sense of enclosure while maintaining a dialogue with the surroundings. A rotational twist in the structure introduces movement, suggestive of a swarm. The form is a 14m cube raised-up on columns, appearing almost to hover above the meadow. A spherical void is hollowed from the centre, allowing visitors to enter.
Pseudo Code – Mesh Box
Pseudo Code – Sphere
Pseudo Code – Subtracting the Mesh with the sphere
Final Model
Animation
Render
