Hands down, the UK Pavilion shines the brightest of the 230 pavilions on show at the Shanghai Expo. Rumor has it that its been gathering the most crowds during its construction--and it hasn't even opened yet. Although the locals have aptly dubbed it as "The Dandelion" in Chinese, I can't help but love its English name Seed Cathedral. Contemplative, reverent, at once simple and complex, the space seems to reflect the very essence of nature within a man-made structure, urging us to reflect on the connection between the two. A temple, indeed.

In honor of the anxiously awaited premiere, here's a handpicked selection of the most beautiful images of Thomas  Heatherwick's pavilion on flickr. (I'm wishing we had big-picture-format for these to do them justice...future feature on the list!) By the way, be sure to visit each user's stream for more!

by zenra

by chaz hutton

by stefano meneghetti

by comkee

by gummibsen

by UKTI

by Miles Metcalfe

A total of 217,300 seeds are contained within its 60,588 optic hairs, all of which will be will be distributed across schools in China and the UK after the Expo closes. It's also good to hear that 75% of the materials for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from within a radius of 300km around Shanghai, and we hope that the British government acts on their intention of reusing or recycling most of the materials of the UK Pavilion after the Expo.

The Seed Cathedral is actually just one of the UK Pavilion's five parts (as explained on the official website):

Part 1: The Way Thing Are: a Green and Pleasant Urban Landscape 

Walkway 1 and 2: Green City and Open City

The first part explores the way things are in the UK, presenting the urban landscape – how it has evolved from the past to the present.

Part 2: The Opportunity: Investing in Nature and Saving Seeds to Protect the Future

The Seed Cathedral

The Seed Cathedral sits in the centre of the UK Pavilion's site, 20 metres in height, formed from 60,000 slender transparent rods, each 7.5 metres long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they act as optic fibres and draw daylight inwards to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources inside each rod allow the whole structure to glow. As the wind moves past, the building and its optic "hairs" gently move to create a dynamic effect. The seeds have been sourced from China's Kunming Institute of Botany, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership.

Part 3: Living City

As you leave the Seed Cathedral, you enter the final walkway 'Living City'. In the Living City a ‘plant river’ spills out from an enormous crack in the canopy, with plant life bursting through, into the walkway. It illustrates how science has used nature in areas as diverse as medicine and construction, and how plants of the future could offer solutions to climate change and other global concerns.

Part 4:The Urban Landscape

The Seed Cathedral sits on a landscape that gives the appearance of an unwrapped gift. This landscape represents the openness that the fabric of British society has been built.

Part 5:The Olympic Connection

Before you exit the UK Pavilion you will see the 2012 Legacy Corner, which looks into the future with a visit to London after the Olympic Games of 2012. It illustrates how this green space legacy is being built on to the benefit of future generations. After the Games, the London Olympic Park will be transformed into one of the largest urban parks created in Europe for more than 150 years.

You can also see the pavilion in video:

There's also another one from by Dezeen, which we weren't allowed to embed here.