Prince Harry announced the winner at ceremony in Rome. The structure inspired by the role of the honeybee will represent the UK on the world stage at the Expo in 2015. Once the UK Pavilion is built, visitors will walk through a fruit orchard and enter a natural wildflower meadow. As they near the centre of the meadow, the focal point of the structure will come into view: a golden orb made of fine steel lattice based on the design of a honeycomb. The 鈥楬ive鈥� will pulsate and buzz with the noise of a real bee colony. Buttress said: 鈥淢y wish is for visitors to engage with the UK Pavilion as a whole and for the hive to be recognised as a barometer for the health of the earth; drawing parallels between a hive and human society.鈥�
Rise chairman Bob White said: 鈥淲e are very excited to be involved in the UK Pavilion at Milan Expo. It enables us to sustain our particular interest in temporary structures, and allows us to continue our collaboration with Stage One on these project types. 鈥淭he design of the Pavilion includes some innovative structural solutions which allied with the focal attraction of the 鈥楬ive鈥� will delight the discerning visitor.鈥�
Mark Johnson, managing director of Stage One said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to have been selected to construct the UK Pavilion at the Milan Expo. This is a significant project for Stage One and reflects our increasingly strong relationship with architects and designers. It鈥檚 a strong validation of our collaborative approach and our ability to deliver creative construction projects successfully.鈥�
The UK Pavilion at the last Universal Expo in Shanghai 2010, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, attracted international acclaim and won gold for best design. In the duration of the six-month Expo more than 8 million people went inside the 鈥楽eed Cathedral鈥�, making it the UK鈥檚 most visited tourist attraction during that time.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
