Decided to blog about the global event that has been on the mouths of quite a number of people, the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. With just one . . . → Read more]]> Hello! Am finally back from my blogging hiatus that was brought about by a combination of work, gym, events and a very faulty laptop screen.

Decided to blog about the global event that has been on the mouths of quite a number of people, the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. With just one more day to go to its official opening, I thought it would be good to restart my blog with a post that shares my favourite pavilions. The pavilions are set up by participating countries, regions, companies and organizations to share its ‘brand’ to the audience by way of exhibits and performances inside the pavilion. The participating countries will display its global image through its pavilion, and I suppose its architecture would play an important role in portraying the right image to the world.

Being Malaysian, obviously I was slightly curious to see what our country had to offer the pavilion. To be honest, I was prepared to cringe as I have seen footage of the Malaysian pavilion for the 2005 Expo in Aichi, Japan and it wasn’t impressive to say the least. So how did Malaysia fare this year? Wait for it…wait for it…

First up, here are my preferred pavilions so far. It may be unfair to judge based on artistic rendering alone, but the concepts described do sound rather impressive.

SPAIN

(photo by David Goss via ArchDaily)

I don’t know if my decision of choosing Spain was in any way affected by my partiality towards that country after visiting the amazing Barcelona. But their pavilion is really impressive and reminds me of the distinct Catalan architecture that I enjoyed a few years ago. But my favourite feature was how the roof covers- made of wicker- had various shades of brown to almost render a shimmering effect. Details on the pavilion here.

(photo by Chaz Hutton via ArchDaily)

Britain

( Photo credits unknown, email source)

When I saw the closeup photos of the UK’s “Seed Cathedral” via email, I was mesmerized. Although from the comment thread in ArchDaily they seem to be receiving some flak, from a layman’s point of view, the building is definitely an eye-catcher. I love the fact that it looks like a furry “Monster’s Inc.” character. According to the email I got, the building is “covered by 60,000 slim, transparent acrylic rods, which will quiver in the breeze”, a sight which I would have liked to experience.

Details of the pavilion here.

Norway

The merits of this project do not seem to lie in its architectural appearance as a unit, but in the pavilion’s concept as a whole. The architects Helen & Hard have come up with a project that rose to the challenge of keeping to this year’s theme which is sustainable urban development. The striking feature of this project is that the pavilion is made up of sections resembling trees which are as easily assembled as they are removed. And to promote sustainability, the ‘trees’ that collectively form the pavilion can be individually used in future as park shades or installations.

The pavilion experience is also a very tasteful and cohesive one, as deftly described by the architects themselves here. Very impressive project, methinks.

Last but not least- Malaysia

If my memory serves me right, the Malaysian pavilion for the 2005 Expo was basically a 10X blown-up kampung house. So what is in store for our Shanghai visitors this year? Wait for it…

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ta-dah!

Sigh. Roof pattern is too reminiscent of our Perpustakaan Negara. Minangkabau roof? Malaysian(?) culture could not have been reflected in a more literal architectural presentation. Well, at least it made it as  one of ArchDaily’s most commented pavilions, mostly Malaysia vs Indonesia banter along the lines of nationalistic-culture-stealing hooha. Another consolation to the visitors: you can enter for a free tasting of bak-kut-teh followed by a round of putting (mini golf in the pavilion!).