A team led by artist Wolfgang Buttress has won the bid to design a beehive-like structure for the UK pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. Titled BE, the “pulsating virtual hive” was designed to call attention to the plight of the honeybee.
Once the UK Pavilion is built, visitors will walk through a fruit orchard and enter a natural wildflower meadow. As they near the centre of the meadow, the focal point of the structure will come into view: a golden orb made of fine steel lattice based on the design of a honeycomb. The ‘Hive’ will pulsate and buzz with the noise of a real bee colony.