The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion Atelier Feichang Jianzhu

In 1976, Centre Pompidou in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, turned the building inside out and made utility ductworks part of the architectural expression. It was unprecedented thus a breakthrough in the field of architecture.

In 2010, we have gone through a long period of rapid technological advancement and the amount of infrastructure in a building has dramatically increased to the point that technologies are todayÕs basic building blocks. For Shanghai Corporate Pavilion at the World Expo, we would like to manifest this observation in our design: the interior spaces of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, which are shaped as a series of free, flowing forms, will not only be enclosed by walls of the static kind but also a dense, cubic volume of infrastructural network, including LED lights and mist making system, which are capable of changing the appearance of the building from one moment to another as programmed through computer.

However, our design is not embracing technology for the technologyÕs sake. Rather, we like to convey visually the spirit of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, the dream of a brighter future, through sophisticated technologies. Technology is about the enrichment of imagination and symbolic of the industry and industrialism of Shanghai. Also through technology, we like to address the pressing issue of energy and sustainability. A part of the architectural infrastructure is designated for the solar energy harvesting and rain water collecting, and the external facade will be made of recycled polycarbonate(PC) plastic.

World Expo is always a window to the future. Shanghai, as a historically progressive yet still fast developing international metropolis, has been all along the embodiment of this forward-looking optimism. As architects, we take the special occasion offered by the World Expo 2010 to solute Shanghai, a great city of the 21st Century, through our architectural design.

Application of Environmental Technologies

1. Solar Energy System

The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion features a 1600m2 area of solar heat-collecting tubes on the roof. These solar tubes can collect solar energy to produce hot water up to 95¡C. Ultra-low temperature power generation techology, is a new, highly efficient approach to harvest electricity through solar power. The power generated using this technology can be used for both the exposition and everyday life.

2. Recycled Plastic Material

Shanghai produces nearly 30 million of waste CDs every year, and only 25% of them are reclaimed and recycled. If these CDs were reclaimed and washed, they could be used to produce polycarbonate granules and manufacture more polycarbonate plastic products. The external facade materials of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion will use polycarbonate transparent plastic tubes to create its dreamlike appearance. After the Expo, the plastic tubes can also be easily recycled to reduce social wastage.

3. Water/Mist System

For the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, rainwater will be collected and recycled. After such treatments as sedimentation, filtration and storage, rainwater can be used for daily purposes at the pavilion and for the mist spray in particular. The mist can lower the temperature, purify the air and create a comfortable micro-climate around the pavilion. The mist spray can also be used to form various patterns under the ceiling of the entrance hall and make the overall appearance of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion fresh and elegant.

Canadian Pavilion Saia Barbarese Topouzanov architectes

Better city, better life

The will to develop cities that are at the same time inclusive, creative and sustainable is above all the quest for an ideal, an immense societal project that must be ceaselessly nourished and renewed through the efforts of the greater Canadian community nationwide. It is this large-scale and, at the same time, thoroughly human project that seemed to represent for us the fundamental element of our identity, the centre around which the architectural concept and experience of the pavilion should gravitate.

The pavilion’s architecture layers and weaves together a series of intertwined metaphors at different scales. The first represents the country, and serves as site for the second, that of the city, which in turn encompasses that of the town square.

The architectural parti distinguishes two closely related entities:

The building as a looped ribbon

The interior court as a circumscribed public square

The building

Mimicking the territorial disposition of cities described above, the long, bar (ribbon) of the building supplely coils between the slender ends of the allotted terrainÕs perimeter. In this way, it supports the idea of a loop that unifies in spite of distances. It projects the image of a country that embraces that which it holds most dear: its population. The continuous path between entrance and exit suits the program of public performances, creating a platform upon which a series of events may unfold. Their starting point will be in the interior court left free at the centre of the pavilion that encompasses it.

The Interior court, public square or urban room

Center, public square or urban room, it is the place where urban life crystallizes and is renewed.

Symbolized by the physical form it adopts and the characteristics that emanate from it, the court evokes the true nature of city.

First, it is porous

At times resting on the ground, at others hovering, rising, lifting, and straightening, the ribbon building creates passages equivalent to roads, lanes and alleys that invite visitors to make their way into the central square. On the west side, one of the covered passages slips under the raised slopes of the structure. It straddles a pool of water of engaging coolness. On the side of America Square, the entrance, open to the sky, is manifest by a large notch in the building which is adjacent to the welcoming protection of two raised extremities offset from one another. These varied access points render the pavilion permeable to the curiosity of the visitor who is drawn towards this place, through a glimpse, intriguing by its atmosphere and activities.

Second, it is inclusive

The walls that circumscribe the square define its nature. These vertical surfaces, at times covered with greenery, at times with a reflective material, maintain the sense of a protective, enveloping enclosure as they palpably extend the space towards other possible places, like getaways to the sky or boundless landscapes of a vast country. In addition, these walls frame the court and hold the power to draw attention toward the nerve-centre which they create. This place, like a town square, depicts city living, and mirrors this aspect by favouring encounters, exchanges, and interactive participation. Creativity can be released to provoke a spontaneous event in an artistic and fun manner.

THE SYSTEM OF CONSTRUCTION TAKES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ACCOUNT

A first shell

The shell constitutes the interior face of the building. Minimal in its construction, without decoration, it lays low and holds only a functional, supportive role to the spectacles that it houses, those that constitute its vibrant heart.

A second envelope

Distinct from the first, it covers the latter with a space between the two. This double wall, itself an insulating coat, reduces the energy expenditures for air conditioning.

Exterior peripheral wall

Multiple facets placed randomly sculpt the facades like crystals under the light of atmospheric, luminescent phenomena.

It uses a series of flat-surfaced fans striated only by fine grooves. Wood, the Canadian material of preference— natural, renewable and recoverable— offers an infinite variety of effects depending on the hour of the day or the quality of light.

Austrian Pavilion Span & Zeytinoglu Architects

The spatial relationships of the pavilion playfully adopt the balance, division and symbiosis between the town and the countryside. Abstract landscapes as sensual experiential spaces generate a rhythmical movement from the natural space to the cultural acoustically condensed urban space. The central room unfolds from the inside outwards. The curvilinear sequence of interior spaces supports the flow of visitors from the entrance area through the exhibition grounds to the exit.

Thanks to the seamless transitions the visuals can unfold freely and unhindered in the space. Panoramas and imagery are projected onto the walls, floor and ceiling to fill the interior.

What looks organic is the result of mathematical structures calculated in minute detail. Only apparently a paradox, the mathematics are understood as the universal language, capable of describing everything, from the structure of a piece of music to the geometry of an oyster shell Geometric and mathematical systems present in natural phenomena are embedded directly into the design to increase the efficiency of the form.

Enrobed in ten million porcelain tiles, the pavilion takes the form of a seamlessly shimmering building, spectacularly reconciling elegant with futuristic elements.

The cladding of the complex curved surface encasing the entire outdoor surface and the roof was made possible by the selection of very small hexagonal modules. The result is what appears to be a smooth, seamless surface, regardless of its opposite nature: 60 million joints result in a regular distribution of the tension in the façade. The design also alludes to the tradition of Chinese porcelain exports to Europe.

In the designing and planning phases, SPAN & Zeytinoglu predominantly work with digital models, a method allowing them to integrate e.g. achievements of topology, the exploration of complex curved geometries. The Austrian pavilion directly reflects this practice. Its organic, curvilinear forms and the continuous flow between spaces base on natural geometric systems.

Based on the design methodology for the Pavillion, SPAN & Zeytinoglu also developed the entire interior design including the restaurant, the shop and the VIP area in addition to the exhibition space and the office area. As part of the interior fittings, the team designed the restaurant and the VIP bar, the shop desk, the info desk, the modular sitting lounge in the VIP area and the reception desk in the VIP lobby.

Although the objects have a value of their own, their integration into the architecture is essential: Spaces and objects form a symbiosis and enhance each other. The design objects are made from CNC-milled polyurethane and coated with synthetic resin. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) is a technology originally developed for the aviation industry, enabling the precise construction of digitally generated, complexly curved objects.