Posted 03.31.2010 at 10:49 am
17 Comments
The Seed Cathedral Made of 60,000 fiber optic rods, the seed cathedral is a moving, breathing tribute to the world around us.
Dezeen
Considering all the nasty politics that have been dragged into today's eco debate, it's nice to see someone out there worshipping Mother Nature the old-fashioned way: by building a humongous, over-the-top structure that inspires awe regardless of where your politics lie. The Seed Cathedral at the Shanghai World Expo's UK Pavillion is exactly that: a 66-feet-tall shrine accented with 60,000 25-feet-long fiber-optic rods on its exterior, each of which contains one or more seeds encased at its tip.
Seed Cathedral 2: Dezeen
And awe-inspiring it certainly is. The rods funnel light into the Seed Cathedral's interior during the day and carry interior light out outward at night, casting a beautiful glow around the structure. The fiber-optic rods sway in the breeze, conjuring images of tall stalks of grass waving in the wind or even the tiny filament hairs that grow on some seeds. From inside, the movement of the clouds above and the swaying of the fibers can give the sensation that cathedral is moving, or perhaps breathing.
Seed Cathedral 3: Dezeen
The seeds were provided by China's Kunming Institute of Botany, a partner with the UK's Kew Royal Botanic Gardens's Millennium Seed Bank Project, which aims to stockpile seeds from a quarter of the world's total plant species by 2020. After the Expo, which runs from May 1 to October 31, the fiber-optic rods and their encased seeds will be distributed to schools in the UK and China.
[dezeen]
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That totally reminds me of that Graphics card stress test that had the fuzzy cube floating around heck if I can think of the name of it now though.
Very cool would love to be able to actually go see this.
When I first saw this image it looked like some hypnotizing computer generated thing that would end up as a desktop background. Now that I know what it really is, I have to say that this is way to wierd
"cathedral", "shrine", and "worshipping Mother Nature the old-fashioned way"?
I'm not so sure about that, it's just a funny collection of fiberoptic sticks. It's neat but who made up that name anyway?
When I saw that picture I was hoping it had some utility, like a neutrino detector to be burred in antarctic ice. But no its just some Chinese art project.
It looks like the Cloud Gate in Chicago finally sprouted.
Don't get me wrong on this, it is a work of art. But, isn't this just a bit over the top?
Wow, stunning! On my list of places to go... :)
over the top makes it absolutely stunning to look at. I say they permanently affix these rods to the frame and let it go.. let it roam the earth.
I'm sorry, but the light and shadow just looks like a giant sphincter to me...
I bet the photos don't so it justice. It sounds and looks like it's meant to be walked around and viewed. The fiber optics would refract the light around it and create some interesting visuals... I would love to see it. It almost looks as if it's floating.
The article doesn't make it clear that this is the British pavilion at the Shanghai expo.
"........carry interior light out outward at night, casting a beautiful glow around the structure". would like to see some pics of this.Must me breathtaking.
It looks like a giant koosh ball!!!
I kinda agree with Fedaykin about what it looks like. One other thing if they do not recycle it when its not important anymore then it will be oxymoronic. How long would it take those fibers to degrade. Its a tribute to the earth but when it outlives its usefulness it will take up a lot of space in a landfill.
Break out the Glow Sticks
I would love to see this in a 30 m/s wind storm!
So, how much solar energy have you used today?
That's so awesome.
Sign of the times that the web address for the article contains the name of the designer but the article ,itself, does not.
No mention of the similarity of the pattern behind this (undoubtedly stunning) design and the design with a same design 'seed', namely 'B of The Bang' also from Thomas Heatherwick.
Given the engineering problems of 'B...' I'm really surprised that you don't ask questions about how sustainable this design is, given the theme that underpins the Expo exhibition.