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First Accession: 17 Dec 1930 - 16 Jun 1944
Second Accession: 02 Sept 1949
The United Kingdom has been a member of the BIE since 1930 although it left the organisation between 1944 and 1949. The UK was home to the first ever World Expo – the Great Exhibition of London in 1851. It also hosted a World Expo in 1862 in London as well as a Horticultural Expo, in Liverpool in 1984. As an active participant in World and Specialised Expos, the UK received a gold award for its pavilions at World Expo 2015 Milan and at World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
Expo 1851 London
Expo 1862 London
Expo 1984 Liverpool
Pavilion typeSelf-Built Pavilion
ThemeInnovating for a Shared Future
Architect(s)Es Devlin Studio, Avantgarde and Veretec
Size (m2)3,417
LocationOpportunity
National Day10 Feb 2022
ThemeWe are Energy
Size (m2)1,000
AwardSilver - "Exhibition Design" Category - pavilions larger than 700 m2
National Day26 Jun 2017
The UK Pavilion focused on UK innovations and discoveries that changed the way we live our lives, transforming communities (steam locomotion), people (electromagnetic radiation), the world (turbojet engine), and everything (www). It asked visitors to imagine a new future, fuelled by the properties of the advanced material, graphene, discovered by Nobel Prize winning UK scientists at Manchester University.
The UK pavilion was a multi-sensory experience involving film, technology, sound and computer generated animation.
With the Expo theme of “Future Energy”, the UK design explored the origins of energy and begins with the birth of the universe, taking visitors on the journey of energy from the sun through to landscape, climate and human civilisation, culminating in a 360º computer generated universal landscape with an illuminated structure at its centre, inspired by human ingenuity.
UK Pavilion designer, Asif Khan, stated that “the universe was formed 13.8 billion years ago. At that moment all energy and matter was in the same place at the same time. The idea that everything, including life on earth, is comprised of this archaic energy is fascinating to me. I wanted to find a way to express this relationship to our visitors and explore how energy is being continually harnessed and balanced around us.”
Completing a world class UK creative team is renowned musician Brian Eno, who composed an original soundscape for the Pavilion, and Professor of Astrophysics Catherine Heymans, from the University of Edinburgh, who developed the scientific context.
ThemeGrown in Britain: Shared Globally
Architect(s)Wolfgang Buttress
Size (m2)1,910
AwardGold - "Architecture and Landscape" category - pavilions smaller than 2,000m²
National Day17 Jun 2015
ThemeBuilding on the Past, Shaping Our Future
Architect(s)Heatherwick Studio
Size (m2)6,000
LocationZone C
AwardGold - "Pavilion Design" category - Pavilions Category A
National Day08 Sept 2010
ThemePlanet of Blessing and Budding
Size (m2)1,296
LocationGlobal Common 4
AwardBronze - "Design" Category - pavilions larger than 1296 m2
National Day22 Apr 2005
ThemeDiversity is Human Nature
Architect(s)Mr Ingo Krummel
Size (m2)4,037
LocationPavilion Est
National Day08 Jun 2000