UK Pavilion wins top international awards

The UK pavilion at the Milan Expo has received an abundance of top international awards in the past few months. These include the BIE Gold Award for Architecture and Landscape the Expo’s highest design accolade given by the Bureau International des Expositions, and the International Prize for Best Pavilion Architecture given by the Italian Association of Architects and other Italian national construction and landscape organisations.

The Italian jury commented: “In the UK Pavilion you can appreciate the synthesis of the complex relationship between engineering, art and architecture that has produced a seemingly simple, lightweight and temporary structure, which appreciates the effective integration between form and content.”

They continued: “The UK Pavilion has best interpreted the theme, attracting visitors day and night thanks to an interesting play of light. The pavilion features sounds and visual effects recorded from a real hive and offers a real experience, not just an iconic object as achieved by other countries.”

The project has also recently won a Blueprint Award for best public building, an FX Award for lighting, and also a commendation in the Landscape Institute Awards and the World Architecture News Landscape Awards scheme.

The Expo came to an end on 31 October and the UK pavilion had over 3.3 million visitors during its six month run. BDP’s architects, landscape and lighting consultants designed the scheme as part of a team led by Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress and including contractor Stage One and structural engineer Tristan Simmonds.

James Millington, Landscape Architect Associate at BDP said: “BDP is delighted to have been part of a great team who made the UK Pavilion. We have been thrilled to see the public’s reaction to it and interest in the story behind it. To win awards for being part of this unique opportunity is very special.”