An absolutely mesmerizing view is greeting you when you enter UK’s pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. The Hive – as its creator has named it, is a large parametric installation designed to “create something quiet which says a lot with as little as possible”. The concept was to draw a parallel between the perfectly structured life of bees and the human society. This is also a way to acknowledge the important role these little guys have in our lives.
Courtesy of UKTI
The access to the pavilion is made by crossing a “meadow”. The artist has planned this journey as a mean to create an individual experience for everyone who will take this route. By taking small steps through the flowers walking towards the pavilion, you are in fact recreating the live of a bee. A beautifully expressed metaphor. The structure has incorporated sensors, that capture vibrations made by the humans which interact with it and transforms them into sounds – a way of reproducing the crazy life inside a beehive. The project had undergone a very well documented case study about the social life of bees and the honeycomb structure, which were later integrated in the design.
Project info:
Architects: Wolfgang Buttress
Country: Italy, Milano
Year: 2015
Photographs: Courtesy of UKTI
Cristina Juc is passionate about the intersection of technology, design, and architecture. A former Assistant Editor and Writing Intern at Arch2O, she contributed insightful content exploring innovation in the built environment. Her involvement in events like the Transylvania Biennial of Architecture reflects her ongoing commitment to architectural discourse. Currently the Executive Director at Spherik Accelerator, Cristina supports startups driving change across creative and tech industries. With a background in community building and educational tech, she continues to champion forward-thinking solutions that shape how we design, build, and experience space.