The Swiss pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai was covered by a semi-transparent façade that used cutting-edge solar technology to produce energy that was released in LED flashes, thus making solar rays visible as a creative force.
The numbers and constellations of flashing LEDs and the length of time for which they emit light varied according to the intensity and angle of the incoming light: the LEDs flashed singly, casted coloured shadows on the wall behind and moved in swarms or other formations across the façade. After the end of the exhibition, the cells were recycled and distributed mainly in China, but also worldwide. Today, they are continuing their communicative role in households of previous visitors of the Swiss pavilion.

Due to the exceptional design and reactivity of the façade, Switzerland hoped to be seen as an innovative, technologically progressive and ecologically conscious country. When visitors approached and entered the pavilion, Switzerland’s vision of the city of the future became clear: a hybrid, networked place in which nature and technology, innovation and sustainability interacts.

The façade, suspended from a height of 20 meters, consisted of a coarsely meshed wire-curtain on which 10 000 cells were fixed at irregular intervals.

Each cell contains a circuit board, the shape of which resembles the map of Switzerland, and electronic components that assure the façade’s interactivity: solar cells, two double-layered capacitors (especially powerful energy storage), one LED (Light Emitting Diode) and sensors that react to light and nearby cells.
The solar cells generate power that is stored in the capacitors and that is discharged by the LEDs’ flashing. Thanks to the sensors this happens in response to incoming light, varying according to the light’s strength. Depending on the intensity of the light, the cells flash for a shorter or longer period of time. The brightness of the LEDs varies depending on the charge and the luminosity of the surroundings.

The cells operate autonomously. However, their in-built microcontroller also causes a reaction between the cells: electromagnetic impulses during the flashing of each single LED influence the behaviour of the cells around them. Provided that there are other cells around, as is was the case on the Swiss façade, a chain reaction ensues, with swarms of flashes moving across the area of cells. On the Swiss façade, this made an interconnectedness visible that is significant for the quality of life today and in the future.

After the end of the exhibition, the cells were sold as innovative gadgets and memorabilia, mainly to Chinese visitors of the Pavilion. A corresponding text provides information about the cells’ construction, function and meaning. That way, the façade has been directly re-used, carrying its message and the memory of an innovative, sustainability-oriented Switzerland into the households.

The façade on Chinese Center Television.

Swiss Pavilion
Press release iart for press conference on 29 April 2009 (in german)
Architecture Technique, 09.10.2010, page 92-97 (in Chinese)

Project documentation for download

The Façade of the Swiss Pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shanghai
Temporary Exhibition
Duration: 1/5/2010 – 31/10/2010

Customer
Presence Switzerland

Services iart
Conception, planning and design of the media façade
Conception, planning and design of the façade units (cells)

Media
Solar energy-driven autonomous façade units (cells) which react on environmental effects and on each other with flashes

Project Partners
Buchner Bründler Architects, Architecture
element design GmbH, Exhibition design
tegoro solutions ag, Realisation of the cell electronics

Project Duration
2 years

Swiss Pavilion Expo 2010 Shanghai, Photo Mark Niedermann

Flash interaction between visitor and façade

Façade Swiss Pavilion from interior

Façade Swiss Pavilion

Cell without casing

Cell in development

First form study for cell

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The flashing façade

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Part of the report on ARD Morgenmagazin on 27 April 2010

The Swiss Pavilion on Vimeo on 28 Oct. 2010