time to get up.
and just like the day before, i had to drag myself out of bed hesitantly to get ready for the second part of my excursion to the expo. how quickly the night had passed into oblivion, broken in continuity by the sudden rhythmic hammering of my trusted sony-ericsson handphone alarm clock feature.
"get up, man, you've got things to do," my conscience made clear.
and so up i got, showered and had breakfast, quickly grabbed a taxi to the hotel where the rest of the delegates were staying. and the first thing i was grateful for, was the sensation of immediate gushes of wind blowing in my face the second i stepped out of the hotel lobby. it was drizzling ever so subtly, and the ambiance couldn't have been more perfect. it was going to be a chilly day, with deep overcast skies above us, like a solemn quilt covering the drenched earth.
i was at the other hotel lobby pretty early as well and once we all got together, we were off. we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city before we made our way to the expo and as we were talking, curiously i was asked on whether people from malaysia all speak with british accents the way i do. the first thing i told them was that i didn't even know that i was speaking the queen's english with a UK twang, and i told them i was simply making the effort to speak as clearly as i could, minus the local slang that we employ when we speak amongst ourselves.
i guess my efforts in enunciating my speech for this international crowd had paid off a little too well, it seems.
and to my surprise when we finally stopped, we had arrived at our disembarkation point, which was a dock by the river, waiting to board a cruise ship.
it seems today we were going to expo by means of transportation on water and on our way, we'd get to enjoy the two distinctive skylines of shanghai.
we'd pass by an elegant bridge or two ( or more even, i can't remember cause there were so many of them ) where on the east bank we see the modern, and on the west one, we'd see the old, and we drift right in the middle of this urban symbiosis, cruising on gentle waves, comforted by frigid winds.
and as we proceeded for about half an hour, observing a tower in the distance stating the present temperature at 18 degrees, i finally saw, in the far distance and through the slight mist, a colossal saucer that had seemingly placed itself precariously by the slippery edge of the riverbanks of the great waterway we were on. it was the performance centre that i had seen last night, whose structure reminded me of an elliptically shaped intergalactic alien looking mother-ship, and that's where we were going to hop off from this brief cruise and enter the grounds of the expo,and one look at my surroundings, i immediately knew where i was.
by an accident of pure coincidence, or pre-ordained destiny if you like, i had arrived at the exact same spot i had left last night, unknowingly of course, that this would be my point of commencement for the excursion of following day with the rest of my expedition. as we boarded off the ship, we were right infront of the pink japanese pavilion, next to the korean one, where one of the americans unflatteringly commented that it resembled a pig, obese body, jutting snouts and all.
well, i can see why she would say that, and everyone giggled tacitly.
after all, why wouldn't they?
( i'm sure you're smiling too right now )
unfortunately, as much as i wanted to spend time here, hoping i'd visit at least the japanese pavilion, we were meant to rendezvous with our tour guide at another zone, whose collection of pavilions probably displayed the most amount of architectural creativity and eye-cacthing innovation on the grounds of the expo. the first one we would be visiting was the american one, then we would be off to visit the pavilions of the european zone, located at zone C, and where from what i've previously seen on magazines, journals and even on the idiot box, had some of the most spectacular examples of temporary exhibitionist structures i'd ever seen.
and based on that pre-conceived notion, i was eventually vindicated.
as mentioned earlier, this was the first pavilion of the day, the one belonging to the red, white and blue. and the thing is, my american guests were not impressed, and truth be told, neither was i. the first thing that crossed my mind upon looking at this building was that it looked an unfriendly CIA complex, warning everyone not to trespass unnecessarily.
it was boring it was plain and it was uninviting.
i would expect designers from this part of the world to have come up with something far more interesting, dynamic and fun even, considering the immense wealth of popular art and culture that the US is famous for.
from the explosive energy of their street and operatic music, the global popularity of the movie-making factory that is hollywood, the imaginative buildings of their urbanscapes from the likes of the deconstructivist and modernist movements, or even the splendours of the mountains and forests of the wild west, there was clearly an infinite selection of aspects that they could have taken inspiration from to come up with a world class design, but it was obviously brushed aside and substituted with this cold, military, no - nonsense like complex.
inside the pavilion was just a series of three movie halls, showing documentary-like snippets and shorts showing the country's state of affairs, both political and cultural, but nothing else was offered and we left disappointed.
"sad state of affairs." i thought.
after spending about half an hour or so, we had to move on to visit the next one, and i was told it would be the french pavilion and suddenly the day started looking brighter. the french one, as far as i remembered had this "lattice envelope" covering its form and so i was looking forward to seeing that feature as it was.
and once i saw the encompassing facade, my spirit was somewhat uplifted.
bonjour!
its white lattice was composed of a series of elegant interwoven criss crossing frames, forming diamond - shape openings all over its surface, that seem to be detached from the main structure of the pavilion itself. as i approached the entrance, i saw that the lattice was placed about 15 feet above the ground, giving the impression that it was floating around its pavilion, rather than simply jutting out of the structure.
i then crossed a walkway above a still water pond, which had this wonderful array of contemporary portraits placed in its undisturbed surface. this bridge was the entrance point of the pavilion, and art was used to demarcate its presence and form the boundary from the exterior to the interior.
and as i walked in, towering minarets of lush grass, like an intricate network of creeping greens, vertically arranged and occasionally tapering off into separate angles forming the secondary skin for the walls, clearly dominated my view as i gazed upwards
the space in the middle of the pavilion was left empty, save for some interesting playful - looking sculptural figures, that seemed like jovial fantasy rooted characters from some modern french fairy tale taking a stroll down this tiled courtyard.
as i approached closer, i saw that the minarets seemed to be designed to catch rainwater for irrigation purposes. it looked as if it was channeling rainwater down a vertical shaft and collecting it in a "drain" for eventual usage from a collection tank placed on the roof above.
and as i entered the interior, it was again a series of halls, showcasing exhibitions on the various industries prevalent in the country, specifically on the romantic nature of their creative arts and classical music.
well, it was french pavilion, after all, and what else would be celebrated other than love and passion in all its forms?
we start from the top, and slowly make our way down to the exit on the ground floor on a gentle declining ramp, stopping by one hall after another for a quick visit. once we were done, we had exited the pavilion and at this point we were deciding on lunch, specifically what and where to have it. they wanted to get back into the french pavilion to sample some world - class cuisine and drinks, but food was the last thing on my mind at the time.
i mean, here i was, at the centre of what is arguably the most dynamic epicentre of international designs in this part of the world, and i wanted to do was explore every inch and marvel at every feature. so i politely declined, and said i would meet them back in a couple of hours once they were done.
they could easily understand my enthusiasm, you see.
and once i bid them an appropriately uttered "bon voyage" and took a shot of this graceful arch in the distance, i felt like an uncontrollable hyperactive kid on a sudden sugar high, delirious with excitement, in a multi-coloured, multi-palatable, multi-magical candy store, and i just couldn't have been happier.
the first pavilion that i had noticed just outside the french one, was this bizarre looking mushroom-like concrete monstrosity, that seemed to assume no conventional form and had this odd strings of red orbs hanging from its top, it was the swiss pavilion, and for a country renowned for the finer things in life, this one seemed strangely divorced from that reputation!
now infront of the swiss pavilion, was the highly energetic, highly technical, highly sculptural german pavilion.
its folded thinly perforated outer silver membrane resembled an abstract origami project gone wild in every conceivable angle, as it wrapped itself around a relatively large enclosure. this was one of the pavilions i had intended to visit, but unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to do so.
now, in terms of conceptual execution, it reminded me strongly as being a physical manifestation of something born out of the deconstructionist movement, specifically something from zaha hadid's studio, and if you're familiar with this particular design style, you'll see why i quickly jumped to that conclusion.
its tapered outer silvery skin with angles projected at every trajectory, its modern industrial vernacular, its non-conventional form and structure and a host of other architectural features led me to this deduction. its theme was " balancity" and though i've always admired and respected the german inclination towards achieving technical precision and innovative engineering in whatever they pursue, i couldn't quite see the connection here ... after all,to me, the design seemed anything but "balanced".
but it was a technical masterpiece of design and detailing nonetheless, and definitely one of the more attention - grabbing ones at the expo itself.
i took as much time as i could gawking at its overall unconventional mathematical structural configuration before moving on to the next one. and the next one was the complete opposite of the german pavilion.
it just couldn't have been more different.
viva el espanyol, people!
welcome to the spanish pavilion! lets dance!
now this pavilion dealt with the concept of inheritance, from the past to the future kinda thing, though i'm not sure how exactly, but what really captured my imagination was obviously its wonderfully and "turbulently" textured, rich exterior membrane.
it was a swirling, seemingly wave-like animated collection of individual hand crafted and traditionally weaved wicker panels, each one consisting of a different pattern, all interwoven together to form a continuous envelope that shielded the steel framework inside.
it was a raw, untamed and organic, nature inspired expression of structure, resembling in its collection of forms, the idyllic and majestic mountainscapes and rough terrains of spain herself, and truly created a unique presence in compared to all the other pavilions in this zone. from what i was told, it even had a nickname, which was "the basket"
its not hard to see why.
this truly was a structure that beautifully conveyed a rich, energetic visual and tactile experience to the passerby. all i wanted to do the minute i saw it was to get up close and touch its glorious skin with my own fingers, and feel for myself the intricate details of its ornate membrane.
and the next one in my sights was the polish pavilion, and as you can see, its entire structure, undoubtedly modern in form, was "covered" with a layer of traditionally influenced motifs forming multi-patterned perforations that symbolically acted as national and cultural identity markers for the pavilion itself.
the perforations were based on traditional polish fabric patterns and superimposed on the walls of the building as a means of visual dissemination of information regarding polish culture, folk art and history.
i walked around as quickly as i could and took as many shots as possible and these were some of the more visually appealing ones. they certainly did catch my attention.
these were some of the ones from eastern europe and quite clearly the usage of a myriad of bright, attractive colours seems to be a big thing here.
this one in particular played also on the idea of using a myriad of colours, but what caught my attention was the graceful swaying of its minuscule semi-transparent panels like pieces of lightly coloured plastic caught on a pole in the path of a breeze. it made the building seem alive somehow when the panels sway haphazardly.
and just in front of that pavilion, was this strangely fragmented collection of deeply scarred super-sized cubes, hurdled together to form a collective mass of sorts. its elevations seemed to be engraved with a network of circuitry on motherboards and the occasional blot of colour could be seen now and then.
now, if you're a star trek fan, you might think that this was a borg cube, or rather 3 smaller ones that had landed in china to mercilessly assimilate expo - goers into its collective (dreadfully, i could even hear them saying " resistance is futile," in the chambers of my mind.)
well, i thought so.
but of course i found out later on that this was the swedish pavilion, notably famous the world over for 2 very famous brands. ikea and volvo quickly spring to mind, but one will make more of an impression than the other. you'll see why soon enough. for the moment however, just take notice of the relentless sea of humanity that crowds the grounds of the expo.
i had never felt so claustrophobic before, what more than in such an open space.
the 2 last pavilions that i glimpsed at, before i rushed back to my delegation members was first this over-sized "kettle" with a scaly skin representing finland. this textured vase, was an extremely simple structure, and its inspiration was drawn from the idea of a pebble sitting by the lake, and so in essence, nature.
the scales on the circular walls provided tactile richness to the design and created a wonderfully intricate pattern to look at under the sun. subtle plays of shadow and light on its walls created drama on its skin, albeit on a minute scale.
i loved the way the "kettle" was sitting on a pool of water, much like a lotus flower sitting in a muddy swap, looking pure and clean much like the pavilion itself.
and the second one, which was just next to it, was this perforated intriguing miss-mash of a combination of spirals, mixing public and private spaces subtly together. a sense of transparency felt visually tangible from this combination as i could see silhouettes of people walking inside the structure, and this was the pavilion from denmark.
in essence, these spirals were an extension of the level of the ground floor channeled into ramps that circled in onto itself. these ramps provided a gradually ascending pathway to the top where the meant for pedestrians and the riding of bicycles to view the surrounding areas. i later found out that the creation of this pathway for the usage of bicycles was a very clever way of showcasing 2 socially based public elements common both in china and denmark's urban setting and was used to symbolically tie the two countries together.
at the entrance, i could clearly see the world famous little mermaid statue, posing timelessly in ghostly silence in a enclosure with an oculus above and water below, in the middle of the structure, providing a focal point within the entire scheme of the design. i didnt get a chance to go in, but i felt from what i saw from the outside, and in view of the little time i had, i didnt have to. it was clear that it was simply a closed tunnel that would head above and back down, while passing by exhibitions screens and panels.
both white in appearance, both simple in form, both profound in understated elegance.
i took a few more shots before realizing i needed to get back to the french pavilion. lunch was bound to be over by now, so i best be rushing back to my lovely companions and see what was next on the agenda.
i'll pick up from where i left off later. right now though, i gotta go.
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