British pavilion for Shanghai鈥檚 World Expo heralded as 鈥檃n outstanding emblem for Britain鈥�

Thomas Heatherwick鈥檚 British pavilion, built for the World Expo in Shanghai, has won the RIBA Lubetkin Prize.

The six-storey structure, known as the dandelion or the 鈥淪eed Cathedral鈥� is pierced by 60,000 transparent acrylic rods that each contain a seed.

The UK Pavilion beat off competition from two other shortlisted buildings: Timberyard Social Housing in Dublin by O鈥橠onnell and Tuomey and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Centre in Alaska by David Chipperfield Architects.

RIBA president Ruth Reed called the winning structure 鈥渁n outstanding emblem for Britain鈥�.

The prize is named after world-renowned architect Berthold Lubetkin, designer of the Penguin Pool at London Zoo.

The winner was presented with a concrete plaque based on that design at a ceremony at RIBA鈥檚 London offices yesterday.

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