Seed Cathedral

Thomas Heatherwick's design for the British Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 encases thousands of seeds at the ends of 60,000 transparent acrylic quills. The cathedral rises over 6 stories and is illuminated from the inside at night. The project is in collaboration with the Kew Millennium Seed bank to showcase/ index the diversity of seeds in the world.

Unlike the Svalbard seed vault, an inaccessible fortress in the arctic circle, the seed cathedral brings the idea of seed conservation and storage to the public in a very visual and experiential way. While the pavilion does not function to preserve seeds in a physical/ scientific manner, it does so in perhaps a more important way, through public awareness and visibility.

photos by Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images; STR/AFP/Getty Images; and AP

Thinking about the ways people interact with seeds is something which could perhaps be explored further. How much does the average person in the city interact with seeds, planting, gardening, etc? While the seed cathedral is an amazing visual index of seed species, in what way can we physically act with the seeds we plant in a more meaningful way than through looking at them. For now this project is enough to inspire the public to think about seeds and lock them in a collective consciousness.