A team led by Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress has been selected over seven other architect-designed proposals to construct a “pulsating” beehive for the UK’s participation at the 2015 Milan Expo. Entitled “BE,” the “virtual hive” will highlight the plight of the honeybee and offer an “immersive sensory experience” that leaves visitors with a “lasting flavor of the British landscape.”
A full project description from the creators after the break...
"Our concept, “BE”, highlights the plight of the honeybee and ways in which new research and technology are helping to address challenges, including food security and biodiversity. Visitors meander through an orchard, discover a wildflower meadow and enter a ‘virtual hive’, which pulsates, buzzes and glows according to signals from a real hive. Our proposal explores the life of the bee colony through an immersive sensory experience – a beautiful and profound encounter – leaving visitors with a lasting flavour of the British landscape.
Encompassing the best of British food, music and fashion, “BE” engages and inspires visitors to think and act differently, expressing ecological interdependencies and the role of technology in cultivating a deeper understanding of our environment."
The pavilion will be built just in time for the Expo’s opening in May 2015, within a village of national pavilions that were inspired by the overarching theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” You can review many of the planned pavilions, including Thailand’s recently unveiled “Venice of Asia,” here.
Reference: The Architect's Journal
