Mountain meadow on urban cylinders

The Swiss pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai is devoted to the theme of ‘Rural and Urban Interaction’. Its architecture and content therefore reflect the symbiotic relationship between town and country in Switzerland.
The building consists of a flat green roof above two cylinders, in front of which hangs a transparent façade that responds to ambient light. The urban part of the pavilion with a restaurant, outdoor seating and a shop is situated at ground level behind the façade.
Visitors are first directed along a three meter-wide curved ramp that takes them up to the top of the main cylinder. From there they can gain a general impression of the pavilion and its surroundings. By looking through binoculars, they can also obtain virtual insights into Switzerland.
The ramp ends at the exhibition on the third floor of the pavilion. Inside the exhibition, a slightly downward sloping floor leads past a number of Swiss personalities, who tell stories about Switzerland if visitors want them to. This part of the exhibition space is situated on one level. Further inside, behind the personalities, it opens up into an atrium where there is a film projection extending over three levels.
Another ramp leads down from the exhibition towards the urban level and on towards the second cylinder. There visitors get into the chair lift in which, accompanied by various sounds, they are transported up to the pavilion’s green roof, where they hover above open meadowland. After a trip lasting around eight minutes, visitors return to the urban ground level, where Swiss specialties await them in the restaurant and the shop.

Man, nature and technology in symbiosis

The exhibition explores the balanced relationship between man, nature and technology in Switzerland.
On the upward ramp there are around ten pairs of binoculars that narrate the prologue and on the downward one there are another forty pairs that offer three-dimensional virtual perspectives on how well Switzerland is equipped and functions. They show the country’s air and water quality as well as successful, innovative and sustainable solutions, for example in urban design and public transport.
After the prologue, visitors meet 12 life-size Swiss men and women, each of whom appear on two 42″ screens placed one above the other that are distributed around the room. At first the men and women simply stand there waiting, hardly moving, following visitors with their gaze. At the touch of a button, the person becomes active and starts to speak. Depending on the button pressed, the original soundtrack is overlaid by the English or Chinese translation. Through the selection of very different personalities – from various walks of life and age groups – the screens present as multifaceted and balanced a cross-section of Switzerland’s population as possible: a pensioner, a schoolgirl, a deaf student, a working mother, a gardener, Professor Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Renzo Blumental, Nelly Wenger, an entrepreneur, Patrick Odier, Dr. Bertrand Piccard, Michelle Calmy-Rey and Sergei Aschwanden. They talk about themselves and their life in Switzerland; about their projects, opportunities, visions and dreams, with a particular focus on their own contribution to a sustainable, high-quality and healthy future.

Three-storey mountain panorama

Behind these personalities, the IMAX film The Alps presents a large 17 x 10 meter panorama extending over three levels. The camera moves slowly so that the mountains are intensively experienced from different perspectives: from far away to close up, from a flight over the mountain peaks to a direct confrontation with a precipitous rock face. K4 high definition shots in the IMAX format permit an impressive closeness to reality. Nine projection surfaces merge seamlessly into one image.

Swiss Pavilion

Media of Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai
Temporary Exhibition
Duration: 1th May – 31st October 2010

Customer
Presence Switzerland

Client
Consortium element design, Buchner Bründler Architekten

Services iart
Conception and planning of media

Media used
Large projection out of 9 projectors
Virtual swiss people in full length
Multi channel audio installations

Partner iart
tegoro solutions ag, Realisation of media installations

Swiss Pavilion Expo 2010 Shanghai

Binoculars on the ramp

The Visions – Media columns with life-size Swiss men and women

Three-storey mountain panorama