The British Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, an event devoted to scientific and cultural exchange, recently opened its doors to curious visitors. Known as the Seed Cathedral, the 20- meter-square structure features 60,000 transparent acrylic rods that extend outward and downward and quiver in a breeze. The end of every rod contains seeds of different plant species from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank. The rods, serving as fiber-optic filaments, bring in daylight to illuminate the interior exhibit space. The unusual pavilion was designed by Heatherwick Studio, based in London. Heatherwick partnered with the Mace Group on the construction.

The U.S Army Corps unveiled a $1.7-billion, 10-year plan this week to restore the ailing Anacostia River in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to health. U.S. officials brief public on river cleanup. The plan, two years in the making, identifies 3,000 projects to help restore the severely polluted river and watershed spanning 176 sq miles of land through a combination of stormwater controls, stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, fish blockage removal, reforestation and controlling trash and chemical contamination “Now we can begin even more aggressive action to clean up the Anacostia River,” said U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

British Columbia will move forward with the development of a new, 900-MW, $6.6-billion hydroelectric project on the Peace River in the province’s eastern section, Premier Gordon Campbell announced on April 19. As currently designed, the earthfill Site C dam would be 1,100 meters long, with 300 meters of concrete structures located on the right bank for the spillway and power intakes. The Sierra Club of British Columbia criticized the decision on the dam, calling it an “ill-advised” mega-project that fails to meet minimum international standards for large dam construction.

Whitestone, N.Y.-based Skanska USA Civil was the apparent low bidder to replace the southernmost 1-mile leg of Seattle’s state Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct—the first portion of a larger project. The bids, opened on April 14, are for work near Seattle’s sports stadiums and shipping port. The $114.57-million bid was 25% under the Washington State Dept. of Transportation engineer’s estimate. The project will begin this summer with removal of elevated viaduct sections.

Washington state Dept. of Transportation (WsDOT) officials hope to finalize designs this summer for a 2.3-mile section of the $4.65-billion, 12.8-mile state Route 520 corridor improvement project, in Seattle, which includes the world’s longest floating pontoon bridge. Photo: Washington State Dept. of Transportation Project floating along On-site work is under way for new pontoon construction (above), which is part of the expanded Washington state corridor (below) connecting Seattle to points east. + Image WsDOT is working with the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, King County Metro and Sound Transit on design decisions regarding the westside section of the

French energy company GDF Suez has won two long-term energy-supply contracts worth $600 million for Peruvian powerplants. The company, through its subsidiary Enersur SA, will construct the 112-MW Quitarasca I hydroelectric plant in the northern highlands and upgrade the existing ChilcaUno thermal powerplant from 270 MW to 800 MW. The contracts, signed on April 14, run from 2013 until 2025.

Solar developer Albiasa Corp., the San Francisco unit of a Spanish firm, has teamed with Hawaii-based developer Pacific Light and Power to build a small but more reliable utility-scale project on Kauai. The 10-MW project also will be the state’s largest solar project, company officials say. Photo: Pacific Light & Power Project will use proprietary solar- capture technology to boost efficiency and cut costs. The $70-million project will use Albiasa’s “concentrated” solar technology but will add other processes developed by joint-venture partner Ram Power Inc., Reno, Nev., to extend power production to the early and later parts of the day

It may not be the biggest job nor the most important, but workers at Clackamas, Ore.-based Oregon Iron Works are clamoring to work on one of the company’s most unusual projects: Ocean Power Technologies’ PowerBuoy 150, a device designed to capture 150 kW of wave energy off Oregon’s coast. Photo: Ocean Power Technologies Oregon Iron Works crew, working on a wave-power prototype, hopes to build bigger generators. “The guys in the shop are pretty excited about this,” says Chandra Brown, vice president of Oregon Iron Works. “It’s pretty fun.” For the company, which typically builds bridges and boats, the job

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York Public Service Commission awarded $204 million in contracts on April 9 that will support the development of 318 MW of renewable electricity at eight sites. The eight projects are in various stages of project development and have not yet been built. NYSERDA has issued no new solicitations since January 2010, when the authority announced a round of power orders for five projects slated to generate 142 MW. In December 2009, New York’s PSC established a goal of supplying 30% of its power from renewable sources by

A massive,1.7-million-cu-yd, deep-soil-mixing project is powering up in eastern New Orleans, and veterans of the technique say it’s probably the largest such project ever undertaken. Photo: Angelle Bergeron At 1.7 million cu yd, deep-soil-mixing job nearly triples the volume of Boston’s Big Dig. var so = new FlashObject("http://natalie.feedroom.com/construction/natoneclip/Player.swf","Player", "300", "169", "8", "#FFFFFF");so.addVariable("skin", "natoneclip");so.addVariable("site", "construction");so.addVariable("fr_story", "bf145635c641e16b70fe8531bcc9d0476f7d3458&rf");so.addVariable("hostURL", document.location.href);so.addParam("quality", "high");so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");so.addParam("menu", "false");so.write("flashcontent"); Joint-venture partners Archer Western Contractors, Atlanta, Ga., and Alberici Enterprises, Overland, Mo., are strengthening a levee maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so it can be increased in height to +28 ft from its current +17 ft without widening