The Shanghai World Expo, scheduled to start on 1 May 2010, promises to be the largest ever. With 238 participants as of May 2009, including international organizations as well as countries from around the world, and a projected 70 million visitors over the six months of Expo 2010, the event will be a formidable exercise in logistics, as well as a vast stage for countries to showcase their businesses and cultures.
Shanghai Prepares for the World Expo
Long known as the world’s premier construction site, Shanghai has stepped up a gear in the run-up to Expo 2010. The international airport is expanding, there is a frenzy of hotel building, and new metro lines are appearing, seemingly overnight. Traffic has become a nightmare, and there is even more dust than normal, but Shanghai is confident it will all be worth it in the end. The Expo's cheery blue mascot, Haibao, is everywhere.
The expo site covers 5.28 square kilometers on both sides of the Huangpu River in the south of the city. The first World Expo to be held in a developing country, the Shanghai Expo’s theme will be “Better City, Better Life” and is particularly appropriate given China’s rapid urbanization since the country opened up to the outside world in the late 1970s.
Pavilions Showcase International Business
The Pavilions – housing countries, corporations and international organizations – will be at the heart of the Shanghai World Expo. While many of them will be of standard construction, hired by countries for the duration of the event, and some will be large buildings housing exhibitions from many different countries (such as the African Pavilion), others will be one-off constructions, designed to impress.
When it comes to impressing the public, China’s pavilion is clearly the winner. Covering an area of 6.52 hectares and towering 63 meters above the site, the Chinese pavilion is no shrinking violet. The 30-meter high roof, of distinctively Chinese design, is dubbed “The Crown of the East”, and will host the pavilion’s exhibition. The main structure will be surrounded by other pavilions, one housing presentations from around the provinces, along with smaller separate pavilions for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Shanghai Expo Pavilions in the Spotlight
With the prospect of basking in the world’s attention for a full six months, many countries and designers have let their imaginations – and their budgets – run free. The UK Pavilion, designed by Heatherwick Studios, will seem to float off the ground, its thousands of spines lighting up and projecting a wide range of images across its surface. The Danish Pavilion, a white steel structure winding around the iconic form of the Little Mermaid, will introduce visitors to the delights of bicycling, Carlsberg beer and jazz.
The Canadians have focused on their creative side, commissioning Cirque du Soleil to design their pavilion, while the Australians have a pavilion made of self-sealing steel which will progressively darken to an ochre-red, evocative of the Australian Outback. The United Arab Emirates have commissioned Foster + Partners to build their striking pavilion, inspired by the shape of a sand dune.
As of May 2009, US participation remains in doubt, their pavilion caught up in a funding controversy. Nonetheless, the Shanghai World Expo looks set to be quite a show.
 |
 |
