Seed Cathedral Wins Best Designed Pavilion Award at Shanghai Expo 2010

As the Shanghai Expo 2010 drew to a close at the end of October, the UK pavilion, officially known as the Seed Cathedral (though nicknamed the Dandelion by the Chinese), beat off competition from other large pavilions to win gold in the design category. As the Expo's top pavilion award, the category considered architecture, design, and representation of theme and decor. The Expo jury called it a fitting tribute to the UK project's vision and clarity of purpose, and to the drive and ambition of the team.

Mace was responsible for the successful construction of this unique and challenging design, working as part of its larger framework supporting UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) projects across the world.

As the official Expo website put it, the Thomas Heatherwick design was "technically complex to build but pure design genius", perfectly embodying the "creativity, innovation and energy of the UK". The pavilion drew eight million visitors within the 184 days of the Expo, including Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other senior Chinese leaders, Lord Coe, Tony and Cherie Blair, George Osbourne and many other luminaries of the political and cultural world.

With the Expo now over, the pavilion will now be deconstructed, a process that Mace is also overseeing.