In May 2010, the largest World Expo in history will take place in China. Organizers expect 200 participating countries and 70 million visitors to attend. The Amsterdam-based design practice Kossmann.dejong, in collaboration with Hypsos Leisure Asia from Hong Kong, won the international competition for the design and construction of the “Urbanian Pavilion”, one of the five theme pavilions at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Currently, half the world’s population lives in a city. By 2050, this percentage is expected to have grown up to 75%. Every day, 150,000 people leave the countryside in search of a better life in the city. It is in the face of this development that for this World Expo the theme chosen is Better City, Better Life. This theme encourages a new way of thinking, new technologies and practices to achieve a healthy and sustainable life in the city.
The exhibition design for the “Urbanian Pavilion” focuses on the theme “urban population”. According to Herman Kossmann, director of design at Kossman.dejong, this is a challenging subject for an exhibition. “We’re going to use a unique way of gathering content for the exhibition, during 7 months we will follow the daily life of a number of families in 10 different cities around the world.
The total area of the “Urbanian Pavilion” is 14,000 sq meters and has an amazing internal height of 22 meters. The number of visitors is estimated with 40,000 per day.
Kossmann.dejong designs this exhibition together with Hypsos Leisure Asia and their Chinese partner Jimei, which is responsible for the engineering and project support. Rowan Tiesma of Hypsos Leisure Asia: “Building a pavilion for this wonderful World Expo is a huge challenge. We have a skilled international team to ensure an unforgettable experience for visitors.”
The Shanghai World Expo will run for 6 months and open its doors on May 1, 2010.
Images: Kossmann.dejong
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