The Canadian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010
Montreal-based Saia Barbarese Topouzanov Architects designed the Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.
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The Canadian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010
The will to develop cities that are at the same time inclusive, creative and sustainable is above all the quest for an ideal, an immense societal project that must be ceaselessly nourished and renewed through the efforts of the greater Canadian community nationwide. It is this large-scale and, at the same time, thoroughly human project that seemed to represent for us the fundamental element of our identity, the centre around which the architectural concept and experience of the pavilion should gravitate.
The pavilion’s architecture layers and weaves together a series of intertwined metaphors at different scales. The first represents the country, and serves as site for the second, that of the city, which in turn encompasses that of the town square.
The architectural parti distinguishes two closely related entities:
The building as a looped ribbon
The interior court as a circumscribed public square
The building
Mimicking the territorial disposition of cities described above, the long, bar (ribbon) of the building supplely coils between the slender ends of the allotted terrain’s perimeter. In this way, it supports the idea of a loop that unifies in spite of distances. It projects the image of a country that embraces that which it holds most dear: its population. The continuous path between entrance and exit suits the program of public performances, creating a platform upon which a series of events may unfold. Their starting point will be in the interior court left free at the centre of the pavilion that encompasses it.
The Interior court, public square or urban room, it is the place where urban life crystallizes and is renewed.
Symbolized by the physical form it adopts and the characteristics that emanate from it, the court evokes the true nature of city.
First, it is porous
At times resting on the ground, at others hovering, rising, lifting, and straightening, the ribbon building creates passages equivalent to roads, lanes and alleys that invite visitors to make their way into the central square. On the west side, one of the covered passages slips under the raised slopes of the structure. It straddles a pool of water of engaging coolness. On the side of America Square, the entrance, open to the sky, is manifest by a large notch in the building which is adjacent to the welcoming protection of two raised extremities offset from one another. These varied access points render the pavilion permeable to the curiosity of the visitor who is drawn towards this place, through a glimpse, intriguing by its atmosphere and activities.
Second, it is inclusive
The walls that circumscribe the square define its nature. These vertical surfaces, at times covered with greenery, at times with a reflective material, maintain the sense of a protective, enveloping enclosure as they palpably extend the space towards other possible places, like getaways to the sky or boundless landscapes of a vast country. In addition, these walls frame the court and hold the power to draw attention toward the nerve-centre which they create. This place, like a town square, depicts city living, and mirrors this aspect by favouring encounters, exchanges, and interactive participation. Creativity can be released to provoke a spontaneous event in an artistic and fun manner.
THE SYSTEM OF CONSTRUCTION TAKES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ACCOUNT
A first shell
The shell constitutes the interior face of the building. Minimal in its construction, without decoration, it lays low and holds only a functional, supportive role to the spectacles that it houses, those that constitute its vibrant heart.
A second envelope
Distinct from the first, it covers the latter with a space between the two. This double wall, itself an insulating coat, reduces the energy expenditures for air conditioning.
Exterior peripheral wall
Multiple facets placed randomly sculpt the facades like crystals under the light of atmospheric, luminescent phenomena. It uses a series of flat-surfaced fans striated only by fine grooves. Wood, the Canadian material of preference – natural, renewable and recoverable – offers an infinite variety of effects depending on the hour of the day or the quality of light.
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Visit the website of Saia Barbarese Topouzanov Architects – here.
Photography by Patrick Alleyn
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sarah on 05 Sep 2010 at 6:41 pm #
Not as impressive as the some of the other countries’ exhibitions but not bad. Very Canadian.
alberto on 05 Sep 2010 at 8:52 pm #
Years ago, in a design studio, I would grade student projects based on their “concept”, and on their “execution” of that concept. After a while, I started thinking there was no way to separate the two-that one would always determine the other. This work shows it is VERY possible to execute a good concept poorly,
MJ on 05 Sep 2010 at 8:53 pm #
I’d like to return to a time that I was blissfully unaware of the US pavilion at Expo 2010. Having just spent a couple of hours looking through all of the pavilion designs, this one ranks pretty highly.
Michelle on 06 Sep 2010 at 7:07 pm #
In the past, on a rainy day, I have hoisted my Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture off the bookshelf, flipped to random pages, and tried to guess the country of origin for the building featured on that page. I have a Master’s degree in Architecture, yet rarely are my guesses correct. I have consequently concluded that the nation, region, or even culture that a building represents is difficult, if not impossible, to discern in our present time, without an accompanying architect’s essay to spell it out for us. Contemporary buildings in Barcelona can be confused for contemporary buildings in Boston, Berlin, Buenos Aires or Aukland. Given that so many contemporary buildings are designed by international architects without intimate knowledge of the place or culture, what does it mean for a building to be national or regional?
Does this building seem Canadian, other than being made from wood (even that feature could result in confusion with Scandinavian pavilions)? Not particularly. Is it even a useful exercise to design a building that is distinctly ‘Canadian’? And if so, is it possible to do so without resorting to cliches?
It seems to me that the architects of the 2010 Canadian Pavilion made an attractive building, based on a couple of initial ‘Canadianisms’ (wood, big) and then entered into a post-rationalisation exercise – finding a way to talk about the design that would make it seem Canadian (transparent, ‘embraced’ population, inclusive).
Finally, I wonder how much of Canada the architects have actually witnessed, since their “town square metaphor” doesn’t really fit. Most of this land is occupied by small towns and small cities, within which you’d be hard pressed to find anything resembling a ‘town square’. This metaphor seems more suitably applied to European countries than to Canada.
rodney on 07 Sep 2010 at 7:46 am #
…well it’s definitely better than the pavilion Canada had at the Vancouver Olympics.
Canada does not represent itself well on a global stage, but this seems like we attempted something for once. Good job.
KDS on 07 Sep 2010 at 3:29 pm #
Yup, I like this one. Looks like a gigantic piece of hand carving. An abstracted totem pole. And it is without question better than the Canadian pavilion at the 2010 Winter Games which, if you missed it, was an off-the-shelf white tent in a parking lot.
However, I would like to know what this pavilion actually contains. Besides lineups, that is.
contracept on 17 Oct 2010 at 7:35 pm #
perfect! doesn’t even need to have canada written on it