What role do bees play in our countryside and our lives? Greenpeace sought to address this question at the annual Glastonbury Festival with Wolfgang Buttress’s timber pavilion, made from over 7,000 locally grown Sitka spruce trees.
The trees were cut to a suitable height but otherwise left completely untreated, leaving the branch marks and bark on the assembled stems, to give a sense of walking through a real forest glade.
The pavilion, measuring 30 metres in diameter, had several pathways that all led to an open space at its heart, surrounded by 3.5 metre-tall planks to form a kind of cocoon. Here, you could listen to recordings of buzzing bees and music created from the same sound. Thanks to vibration sensors, it was also possible to experience the activity of the local bees in a light show that ran day and night. In addition, visitors were encouraged to take a small drill and create holes in the wood, so the pavilion could offer new homes for bees.
Read more at wolfgangbuttress.com
