an artist's rendition of the Swiss Pavilion
As the host country of the 2010 World Expo, China has a long and rich cultural history, which has provided continuous inspiration to people around the world. The Swiss Pavilion is inspired by the concept of balance, as embodied in the traditional Chinese concept of yin and yang, which is relevant to the sub-theme of the Expo "rural-urban interaction."
Rural and urban areas are complementary yet opposing, and the combination of the two ensures a balance between society and nature. A regular and healthy interaction between the rural and urban areas is a prerequisite for sustainable and harmonious development in ecological, economic and social aspects.
chair lift to be used at the Swiss Pavilion
chair lift to be used at the Swiss Pavilion
facade of the Swiss Pavilion
In Switzerland, there is a strong awareness of the importance of the interaction between urban and rural areas, due to the geographical characteristics of the country. Urban and rural areas are complementary and necessarily interdependent. For many years, Switzerland has been striving to find sustainable ways of protecting and conserving its natural heritage as well as improving living conditions in urban areas.
The design of the Swiss Pavilion is based on the concept of balance rooted in the principle of yin and yang. A vast planted roof and two load-bearing cylinders together make up the structure of the building, and are connected by a revolving chair lift system. The architecture incorporates the symbiosis between town and country, and emphasizes the perfect balance of man, nature and technology.
The urban setting of the ground floor is counterbalanced by the natural space of the roof of the Swiss Pavilion and the continuous circuit of the chair lift provides visitors with access to the rural area from the urban area, offering an interesting and inspiring experience.
The Pavilion is a hybrid image of nature and technology, which incorporates the sub-theme of the Shanghai Expo -- rural-urban interaction.
The first cylinder represents the urban part.
Walking along a ramp, the exhibition area provides visitors with an overview of the building and the exhibition. Visitors will pass by 3D screens, which provide three-dimensional images of innovative and sustainable Swiss success stories. At the end of the ramp, they will enter the exhibition hall and come across Swiss men and women, projected on life-size screens, recounting their visions of the future, their expectations and their dreams. These personal statements by Swiss citizens show how important the individual is in conserving and shaping nature in a responsible way. They will also have insight into the four themes of the exhibition: water quality, air quality, public transport and sustainable construction.
After the ramp and the exhibition area, visitors will move into the urban area on the ground floor, where a multifunctional stage, a shop, and a restaurant combine with the urban setting, providing visitors with a sense of what it feels like to be in a bustling city.
At the top end of the ramp of the exhibition area, visitors can see a 10-meter-high projection screen in the atrium, on which scenes of the IMAX film "The Alps," showcasing magnificent Swiss mountain scenery, is being projected. In a continuous loop, the film shows broad landscape views that sweep deliberately slowly across the mountain slopes highlighting the omnipresence of the Alps mountain range in Switzerland.
Aside from the beauty of the mountain, the film also represents a harsh and hard environment.
After visiting the exhibition, visitors will come to the second cylinder of the Swiss Pavilion, where they can start the tour on the chair lift.
The second cylinder is open at the top and its walls are planted with greenery. Accompanied by sounds from nature, visitors will take an eight-minute chair lift ride up the cylinder to the natural space on the roof of the Pavilion.
The chair lift provides a link between the urban space and the natural space of the Swiss Pavilion, which allows visitors to access nature from the urban area and vice versa. It takes visitors out of the demanding, urban environment into the relaxing rural setting and back again.
Covered by a green meadow, plants and flowers, the roof of the Swiss Pavilion is an open, bright and peaceful landscape. Accompanied by relaxing sounds from nature, visitors can glide across the exuberant green meadow and enjoy the beautiful natural space.
The interactive, intelligent facade of the official Swiss Pavilion shows how much unused energy is all around us.
The facade that envelops the Pavilion is a curtain of woven aluminium elements under which visitors pass to access the urban area on the ground floor of the building. LED lights comprised of an energy source, a storage unit and a consuming unit are incorporated into the facade. The energy produced is made visible in the form of flashes that are triggered by the pavilion surroundings, such as the sun or flashes made by visitor cameras.
Since each solar cell is independent of the others, the whole system is, to a certain extent unpredictable, which results in a haphazard pattern of flashes. Thanks to the storage of energy in each individual cell, the facade is also active at night, when the cells will trigger each other.
Each cell bears a map of Switzerland, making the whole Pavilion into a "Swiss" drape.
