Pavilions in Bailianjing Park by Taranta Creations,Chine

Taranta Creations designed a series of art pavilions that were installed in Bailianjing Park along the Hangpu river in Shanghai, China.

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Bailianjing Park Pavilions by Taranta Creations

Bailianjing park is located in the north of Pudong section of the former expo site, along the Huangpu river. Already opened during the China Expo 2010, the park claims its crucial role after the expo. While most of the expo structures are currently demolished, the park remains as a permanent public waterfront. Besides the maintenance of the china pavilion, the expo exhibition center, the Mercedes Benz stadium and the expo boulevard, it is unclear what will happen with the large amount of unoccupied land after the torn down of all the country and corporation pavilions. Continuing the theme of the expo “better city, better life” the green waterfront should function as an attractor of high quality urban developments. A series of art installations along the green belt are part of the landscape design. Among the designers for the different art installations was Taranta Creations.

Park life
If you visit the parks in shanghai, you will notice that the Chinese people use these public spaces extensively. From early in the morning till dusk, people come to the park to meet, exercise, eat or relax. You find people practicing tai chi, dancing, singing karaoke, drinking tea or playing the typical Chinese mahjong game.

The objective of our design was to create sculptures that added more than only visually quality to the park. We wanted to create an installation that enables and facilitates this typical park life. Inspired by the diversity of Chinese recreational cultures, each sculpture is designated for a specific function to suit for multiple purposes. One sculpture will be equipped with microphones and a screen, so it can be used for singing karaoke. Another will contain trays to store chess and card games. In one of the pavilions you can place bottles, for keeping your drinks cold during the hot summers. Or you can dance on the tunes produced by the “jukebox” sculpture.

Tea pavilions
The sculptures are designed as small pavilions. This way we create a reference to the ancient Chinese Fengkafei tea pavilions, which have always been small centers for recreational and social purposes. Given the location next to the river, we decided to place the pavilions on poles. Not only does this protect the pavilions against a flood from the river, but also makes people aware of this existing threat.  As a contrast to the normally gray sky that you usually will experience in shanghai, we choose to execute the pavilions in fresh and bright colors. The colors in combination with the shapes give the cluster of pavilions the appearance of candy. As we believe our pavilions can be the “candy” for people to visit the park. small wind turbines placed on top of the pavilions provide the pavilions with the necessary electricity. During the night the pavilions light the environment.

Bubble gate
At the start of the path that leads towards the pavilions we place a pavilion that represents the modern version of the old Chinese gate. The bubble shape gate is a reminder of the flamboyant architecture that we have experienced at the expo pavilions.

Design team: Enrico Taranta, Giorgio Radojkovic, Juriaan Calis

German Pavilion by Schmidhuber + Kaindl

The architects Schmidhuber + Kaindl has designed the German Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010 .

Central Idea
At the german pavilion in Shanghai, the Federal Republic of Germany is presenting itself as a multifaceted nation rich in ideas. As an innovative, forward-looking country that also places great value on the preservation of its roots and heritage. Diversity and balance, rather than ’sameness’, are vital to tomorrow’s cities. The interplay between the diversity and contrasts of German cities enables a very special quality of life and vitality to emerge. This is why we believe it is essential to preserve this diversity without forgoing innovation and technology.
The Federal Republic of Germany is intent on conveying this very personal German perspective credibly and memorably. Germany’s contribution to the EXPO 2010 ‘Better City, Better Life’ theme is called: balancity a city in balance between renewal and preservation, innovation and tradition, urbanity and nature, society and its individuals, work and recreation, and finally, between globalisation and national identity. This central idea can be directly experienced by visitors everywhere in the German pavilion. Balancity a marriage of the terms ‘balance’ and ‘city’ is Germany’s interpretation of the ‘Better City, Better Life’ Expo theme.

Balancity
The thinking behind balancity is clearly reflected in the pavilion architecture. A city symbolises the balance between diversity and density, and is composed of many different historical layers, spaces, functions and environments. In many cities, the industrial evolution from a production to a service orientation has led to large industrial spaces being transformed into attractive parks and residential environments.
Nature and natural landscapes re slowly but surely finding their way into the city. In contemporary European urban planning, the historically defined antipodes of city and country are now dovetailing towards a single cohesive organism. The resulting consciousness and commitment to sustainable, energy-efficient living concepts are leading to a definite integration of nature into urban spaces and architectural concepts. The architecture of the German pavilion is very much like a dynamic, urban organism, an accessible three-dimensional sculpture, mirroring the diversity of life in the city and the country in Germany.

The German pavilion as a sculpture
Four large exhibition structures stand as symbols for the interplay between carrying and being carried, between leaning on and supporting. Each individual structure, on its own, is in a somewhat precarious state of balance. It is only in interaction with the other structures that a stable balance is found. This is the concept behind balancity from an architectural perspective.
The four structures together create a large roof over the pavilion landscape, offering visitors shade and protecting them from rain. An exciting interplay of interior and exterior space, of buildings and nature, of urban and rural landscapes. The journey through the exhibition structures is set up like a promenade.
The visitors move along pathways, at times on moving walkways, as they are led through the various urban spaces. Double storeys merge with single storeys, and the slops and turns in the different spaces moderate the visitor flow.

At the end of the path, the visitor reaches a twelve-metre high, vertical amphitheatre-like room the Energy Source. Following he show in the Energy Source, the visitor is gradually led downwards in a spiral consisting of three staircases, where he finally reaches the pavilion’s event area.


Project: EXPO 2010 Shanghai Deutscher Pabilion “balancity”
Overall responsibility: German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Bonn
Organisation and Operation: Koelnmesse International GmbH, Cologne
Design, planning and realisation: Consortium German Pavilion Shanghai
Architecture: Schmidhuber + Kaindl GmbH, Munich
Exhibition: Milla and Partner GmbH, Stuttgart
Construction: NUSSLI (Germany), Roth
Local architect: he playze, Shanghai
Project management: BS Engineering Consulting Shanghai Co., Ltd.
Design/Construction Service: Shanghai Xiandai Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.

Via