Russian Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010

'the best city in the world should be the favorite one among children.' - Nikolay Nosov,
Soviet writer of children's literature

Following the conception of nosov, the Russian Pavilion has been designed by P.A.P. ER Architectural Team as a city from a fairy tale, thus, giving people the impression of a children's paradise. It features 12 irregularly shaped towers in white, red and gold and a 15-meter-tall central building dubbed the 'civilization cube' which links the towers.

The main exhibition area of the russian pavilion consists of three parts: 'city for children', 'city for youth' and 'big world', each carrying themes of 'city of flowers', 'city of sun' and 'city of moon' respectively.

There is a display of scenes from the fairy tale 'the adventures of dunno and his friends' written by children's author nikolay noso. before starting their journey, visitors are advised to envision themselves as DUNNO and his friends when travelling through the building.

With their irregular shapes, the 20-meter towers are located among the natural landscapes of a green lawn and water. upon taking a closer look, visitors will find that these towers form a circle that takes after the formation of a famous russian dance. The roofs of the towers are decorated with hollow pictures in colors widely used for traditional Russian garments, symbolizing the integration of various ethnic groups in the country.

The 'city of flowers' features fairy-tale style images of children, showing a flair for colors and fantasies. the 'city of sun' is a miniature artificial space where the sun shines permanently, shedding light onto every window of the hall to create a translucent labyrinth with virtual displays. Here visitors can learn about the technological inventions by Russian youth. The 'city of moon' focuses on space exploration presenting the history of human travels into space and the advancements made by Russia in their aerospace missions.

Giant strawberries, flowers and trees featured in the pavilion show a city as seen through children's eyes. visitors will travel along the path as if in a story book. along the way, they are met with giant foods and plants. the path consists of sections that each highlight progress in different areas of Russia's development.

                                                   'big world'

                                                   'city of sun'

                                                 'city for children'




All pics & info courtesy of designboom

You are who you decide to be ... Adapt & Overcome.

The German Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010

The German Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 is a three-dimensional walk-through sculpture with no defined interior or exterior.For visitors the journey starts at the harbor and leads through gardens and parks, via a town planning office and a factory and past the opera to end at the 'energy source', the city’s power plant.

The 6,000-square-meter structure is germany's largest at any expo. It showcases German urban life and how the country's design and products can help solve urbanization problems.

The architecture was designed by Schmidhuber + Kaindl and constructed by Nussli. The exhibition space was created by Milla Und Partner.

All pics & info courtesy of designboom

You are who you decide to be ... Adapt & Overcome.

The Danish Pavilion At Shanghai Expo 2010

Copenhagen-based Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), designed the Danish Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

The Danish pavilion does not only exhibit the Danish virtues. Through interaction, the visitors are able to actually experience some of Copenhagen’s best attractions – the city bike, the harbor bath, the playground and the picnic.

The bike is a popular mean of transportation and a national symbol – common to Denmark and China. In recent years, however, it has had a very different fate in the two countries. While Copenhagen is striving to become the world’s leading bike city, heavy motor traffic is on the rise in Shanghai, where the car has become a symbol of wealth.

Both Shanghai and Copenhagen are harbor cities. The polluting activities in the Copenhagen harbors have been replaced by harbor parks and cultural institutions, as the result, the water has become clean enough to swim in. In the heart of the pavilion the guests will find the Harbor Pool. Children can dapple their feet in the water and thus experience how it is like to live in a Danish city where the water in the harbor is clean. In the middle of The Harbor Pool, The Little Mermaid is sitting exactly as she usually sits in Copenhagen. The original Mermaid is visiting China as a concrete example of the idea that the Danish pavilion contains the real experience of the Danish city life.

While The Little Mermaid is in Shanghai, her place in Langeline will be occupied by an art work created by the internationally recognized Chinese artist Ai Weise who among other things worked as a consultant on Bird’s Nest, the national Olympic stadium in Beijing.

The pavilion is constructed as a monolithic self-supporting construction in white-painted steel, manufactured at a Chinese shipyard. Synthetic light-blue coating used in Denmark for bicycle paths will cover the roof. Inside, the floor will appear in epoxy, the light-blue bycycle path respectively.

The sequence of events at the exhibition takes place between two parallel facades – the internal and external. The internal is closed and contains different functions of the pavilion. The width varies and is defined by the programme of the inner space. The external facade, pavilion’s façade outwards, is made of perforated steel. In the evening time, the indoor activity of the pavilion will be illuminated for passers-by.

The Danish artist Jeppe Hein has designed a ‘social bench’ that will run alongside the bicycle lane. In some places, the bench adapts to its environment elastically and different functions are added such as a bar for food and drink.

Visit the Bjarke Ingels Group website – here.

 All pics & info courtesy of contemporist

You are who you decide to be ... Adapt & Overcome.

French Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010

                                         the exterior facade connected to the main structure

                                      lights inserted in  each diamond like structure

Named 'the sensual city' The French Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 designed by Jacques Ferrier Architects is covered with a concrete trellis like structure, surrounded by water. inside is a main courtyard with growing walls that lead to the green rooftop along with ponds and water fountains.  Visitors can ascend to the rooftop via an escalator to view the courtyard below.

All pics & info courtesy of designboom

You are who you decide to be ... Adapt & Overcome.