Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 / BIG

Sep 2008

By David Basulto — Filed under: Awarded Competitions ,Institutional Architecture ,Structures ,Videos , Arup, BIG, Denmark, Shanghai 2010

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In my opinion Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG, is one of the best architects when it comes to give shape to the interests of an “unspoken” client on public buildings,either representing the values of a country or a culture. All with exceptional syntax and presentation skills.

And BIG‘s latest project (in collaboration with Arup and 2+1), the Danish Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo, does it again, by taking the best of living in Copenhagen and placing it on China for visitors to experience.

Basically, the pavilion is a big loop on which visitors ride around on one of the 1,500 bikes available at the entrance, a chance to experience the Danish urban way. At the center of the pavilion there’s a big pool with fresh water from Copenhagen’s harbor, on which visitors can even swim.

At the center of the pool you will find The Little Mermaid, a statue that has become a symbol for Denmark. And this time, it will be moved temporarily to China. In Bjarke Ingels words “it is considerably more resource efficient moving The Little Mermaid to China, than moving 1.3 billion Chinese to Copenhagen”.

The proposal sticks to the speech, and I´m sure the end result will be one of the most impressive pavilions at Shanghai.

About David Basulto: Graduate Architect. Co Founder and Executive Editor of ArchDaily.com. Architecture geek.

Cite:
Basulto , David . "Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 / BIG" 21 Sep 2008. ArchDaily. Accessed 04 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/6465>

Comments (36)
Tweets (7)
Links to this entry (19)

Christopher Hyde says:

Cool. Sort of reminds me of Lubetkin’s penguin pool.

# September 21, 2008 at 08:20

Ali Manco says:

RE: Lubetkin

Good point. It is actually Campo Baeza’s latest project that borrows from Lubetkin. He even put a pinguin on a detail section, which was a very intelligent gesture….

# November 24, 2009 at 08:48

Carlos Peña says:

De los mejores arquitectos…por favor!!!
Generalmente sus proyectos están fuera de escala, copia a Koolhaas y a quien se le presente…basta ver esta propuesta y recordar el pabellón de la serpentine gallery de Snohetta…y la fachada…ya esta muy vista…el Mies de Koolhaas en el MIT.

Es un buen arquitectos,pero solo eso

# September 22, 2008 at 12:36

Keith says:

great job!!

# November 4, 2008 at 14:00

CURFUE says:

DEFINATELY ONE OF THE BEST REVEALED SO FAR. A SURE AWARD WINNER. CONGRATULATIONS DENMARK AND THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO MAKE SHANGHAI EXPO 2010 WHAT APPEARS TO BE SHAPING UP AS AN ASSURED SUCCESS. GOOD DESIGN IS EVIDENT HERE RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING. ITS THE TIVOLI EXPERIENCE THAT IS COMING THROUGH. SO WELL CONCEIVED. SIMPLE GEOMETRY BUT COMPLICATED THOUGHT PROCESS. THE LITTLE MERMAID IS THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE…A CELEBRATION…A REAL CROWD PLEASER. BIKES ARE CONTEMPORARY, THOUGHTFUL, COOL. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE PICTURES OF THE FINISHED DESIGN.

# February 7, 2009 at 07:03

Abdul says:

It was great fun watching the video. Striking to see that they have taken Copenhagen to Shangai in a literal sense in their design concept. Since the theme is ‘Better City – Better life’ I can understand why it is appropriate to draw reference to Copenhagen or in general Denmark.

It just makes me homesick. I want to go home to Denmark!

# March 26, 2009 at 15:15

Helí says:

Para Carlos Peña, es decir que porque algo se hizo una vez ya no se puede volver a hacer? No estoy de acuerdo con tu comentario, se que es tarde para responderte pero bueno. Me imagino que debes ser muy original en tu trabajo

# April 26, 2009 at 19:43

Lucas Gray says:

This one stands out as probably the best design for the expo I have seen. Some of the others are horrendous.

# May 16, 2009 at 03:53

Homage says:

The ones to create the beautiful projects for BIG are the creative partners;Andreas Klok Pedersen, Niels Lund Petersen, Jakob Lange and Thomas Christoffersen. They design the beautiful scemes, while Bjarke travels the world. Niels Lund Petersen lead the design team for the Denmark Pavilion.Just thought you should know..

# July 15, 2009 at 09:03

helen says:

love love love love love!

# August 11, 2009 at 19:06

Lawrence says:

love it!

# August 11, 2009 at 22:51

GeorgeFP_SA says:

BEAUTIFUL!!!

# August 12, 2009 at 04:30

Goldschmidt Razvan says:

That is so nice, but, I think that in my countrey, if you whant to shearch even for a bicke is difficult. But it is a very beautiful project in did. And it has a cool shape also

# August 12, 2009 at 08:11

price says:

the movie is really fantastic, it does what no drawings and renderings can do. incredible project!

# August 12, 2009 at 10:48

Benjamin says:

Finally, something good.

# August 12, 2009 at 11:05

Mariana says:

i loved it.
hope i wasnt deceived by that vid’s coolness! hehehe
x)

# August 25, 2009 at 18:42

广州枫 says:

好东西

# August 29, 2009 at 06:53

qingtong says:

ace comment.

# August 31, 2009 at 11:09

ahahhahaha

# March 17, 2010 at 09:32

dcgv says:

not so bad! i wonder how it can be steady like that structure. maybe needs some columns.

# August 31, 2009 at 22:20

The spiral mass concept is similar to their Kazakhstan National Library project, which beat some really “big” names at the competition.

# November 24, 2009 at 08:51

honeymooncroon says:

BIG EXPO The Danish Pavilion 2010 http://tinyurl.com/3kz28u plz valaki mondjon előadót a számhoz, ami a videó alatt megy!

# December 6, 2009 at 12:20

Project Finder says:

This seems to be a very successful project and could be a stand out compared to some other countries that took part in the 2010 Expo Shanghai.

# January 20, 2010 at 08:24

Rasmus Kofod says:

Indeed an awesome project.

I have one correction to make.
BIG is apparently not going to have the skyline of Copenhagen on the outside of the structure, as they want to make people think they are already “inside” Copenhagen.

Instead they are going to have a led show placed inside all the holes on the surface of the structure.

This information comes from a sponsor of the building, the Danish furniture manufacturer Paustian.

If anyone is interested in photos of the building site as of January the 21th, just reply to this comment.

# January 24, 2010 at 15:48

NAJIB says: