Having previously created inspirational installations for the likes of British Airways (Heathrow Terminal 5) and the BBC, London’s Troika – ‘a multi-disciplinary art and design practice, with backgrounds in graphic and communication, art, product design and engineering’ – have been commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to create the exhibitions for Thomas Heatherwick‘s awe-inspiring UK Pavilion at Shanghai’s fabulous 2010 World Expo. Gracefully complementing – without ever distracting from – Heatherwick’s masterpiece, ‘The Seed Cathedral’, Troika have brilliant contextualised the Pavilion’s concept of ‘Nature and the City’ and the 3 distinct installations that are tucked underneath the constructions edges, and which visitors are led through, each tell a unique story of UK life…..
Green City
“A series of green, aerial maps, which visualise the abundance of green spaces within the centres of London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff, greets the visitor on entering the UK pavilion. Surprisingly, the main arteries and all the different areas can still be clearly recognised, and the visitor has the opportunity to understand the intricacy and importance of nature within UK cities.”
Open City
“The second installation ‘Open City’, attempts to convey how permeable the typical UK city is to natural elements. British cities are commonly wide spread and low built, a result of restrictions on building heights up until the 1960s. Large sheltered developments and shopping malls are comparatively sparse. Abundance of natural light and the elements is fecund to the city’s greenness, nurturing its parks and gardens. As a result, the typical British city, including its capital, feels transparent and open to the natural elements. The sight of the sky is rarely obscured, and dwellers directly experience the weather, the wind, the fog, the rain as an integral part of the city.”
Living City
“After visiting the inside of the Seed Cathedral, and being exposed to this majestic consecration of plant biodiversity, we thought that an important contribution would be to explain to the visitors why some of these seeds can shape the way we live in our future cities. Concluding the exhibitions of the UK pavilion, the last installation presents a giant green river of plants bursting through the canopy of the last walkway, crisscrossing along its entire length from the Seed Cathedral onto the landscape, as a symbolic break of the vegetation through the concrete. The plant river showcases in a dramatic way some of the most useful plants which can be used in an urban environment, in a beautiful and naturally scented display.”
Words By;
James Davidson; Editor in Chief