The Pavilion comprised a welcoming orchard, a wildflower meadow walk and ‘the Hive’, a sculptural installation. This centrepiece comprised a 14m cubed aluminium lattice structure, based upon an abstracted analogue of honeycomb. A void at its centre allowed visitors to enter a space lined with 1000 LED lights, glowing in response to conditions within a real beehive. The designers teamed-up with bee expert Dr. Martin Bencsik who is undertaking innovative research into honeybee communications. The central idea was to employ Bencsik's techniques to connect a bee colony in the UK to the Pavilion in Milan.
Accelerometers were used to measure the vibrational activity of a bee colony in Nottingham UK. These signals were streamed in real-time to the Hive in Milan and expressed via the array LEDs. This visual expression was complemented by an immersive soundscape, recorded as a kind of symphony between bee and human. The Hive sought to connect visitors with a bee colony on an experiential level and foster a sense of empathy and connectedness. The Pavilion was delivered on time and on budget. It greatly exceeded target visitor numbers, yet dealt with high visitor numbers comfortably.
The design of the flow meant that things kept moving and the pavilion did not feel overcrowded, as compared to many parts of the expo site. From June 2016 the Hive will re-open to the public in London at it’s new home at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. The Hive was designed as a modular kit of parts with mechanical fixings for ease of disassembly/reassembly. This is the first British Pavilion to be relocated after the conclusion of the temporary Expo event for which it was commissioned.