Svalbard Global Seed Vault: The seed vault will shine

 

The external decoration of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will ensure that the unique structure will shine, both during light summer nights and dark winter days.
The decoration consists of highly polished steel, broken into facets and mounted on manageable elements that are fixed to the concrete. They may be supplemented by some Swarowski crystals. The decoration will be covered by special glass that breaks the light in a characteristic way.

Provides the position  The building will reflect sunlight and light, depending on the time of year and time of day. When it is dark, it will be illuminated at different points by using fibre-optic cables that distribute a light source positioned in the technical room in the interior. This will create refractions when the sun is gone. The lighting will continually change in a low-key manner, but will always entail that the building signals its position. “The decoration will shine both during light summer nights and dark winter days, and will contribute in making the entrance to the seed vault visible from the air, land and sea. The plant will shine like a diamond,” says Ole G. Hertzenberg, communication director with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

The entrance to the seed vault. Photo: Statsbygg

Our own reflection
“The reflective surface doesn’t give away what lies within, but throws back what it receives. If you are close enough you can see yourself in the reflection. Further away you become part of the landscape or are blinded by the light that is reflected,” says artist Dyveke Sanne from Asker.

“The seed vault is closed to the public. Along with a characteristic design that emphasises this, it both exists and doesn’t exist. We are impressed by the grandeur of collecting all of the world’s crop seeds. At the same time we are frightened by our own mirror image that so clearly unveils our position and the earth’s condition,” reflects Sanne.

4.5 million types of seed
Svalbard Global Seed Vault is constructed as a mountain cavern in the permafrost just outside of Longyearbyen on Svalbard. The seed vault shall safeguard the genetic diversity of the world’s food crops. The vault will contain duplicates of seed collections from gene banks all over the world and will have a capacity of more than four million seed types. If seeds are lost other places in the world as a result of natural disasters, wars or lack of resources, seed collections may be re-established using seeds from Svalbard.

Government financed 
It is Norway who formally owns the seed vault, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is the responsible body. The Nordic Genetic Resource Centre is responsible for the professional operation, while the Directorate of Public Construction and Property operate the technical plant. The construction cost almost NOK 50 million and was wholly financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Environment. The global fund for plant diversity, Global Crop Diversity Trust, has also been drawn in as an active partner and will finance a significant portion of the annual operational costs of the vault. The remaining operational costs will be financed by the government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. GCDT also contribute in securing the operation by assisting developing countries in the packing and shipping of seed samples to Svalbard.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault will open on 26 February 2008.

More information:
Ole G. Hertzenberg, communication director, tel. +47 90 10 04 42
Koro - art coordinator Hilde Herming, tlf. +47 22 99 11 99.