© Pedro Kok

Architectural photographer Pedro Kok shared with us a work of art in the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Müller Museum, by Dutch artist Pjotr Müller (1947): House of Dr. Jung (2004-2006). In its collection, the museum has several works of art by Müller, chiefly works on paper. In 1987, Müller also made the work To Noumenon in the sculpture garden, which like House of Dr. Jung was a temporary acquisition designed to decay in a natural manner.

The House of Dr. Jung consists of three rectangular stacked “boxes” made of scrap wood, which together form a house. The building consists of three floors – a basement, a storey above it and an attic at the upper level – and was constructed according to the maxim Omne trinum perfectum (every perfect thing is threefold). In his drawings for the house, Müller made use of the proportions and unit system of the architect R. M. Schindler (1887-1953). This Austrian-born architect worked with the famed Frank Lloyd Wright in the United States, and is particularly known for the Lovell Beach House in Los Angeles and King’s Road House in West-Hollywood.

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Designed for the “44th Zagreb Salon”, an architecture show in Croatia, the pavilion designed by njiric + arhitekti (featured on ArchDaily) is currently on sale on eBay.

The Pavilion is approximately 24ft across and 38ft high, and is built using steel framing, with acrylic sidings and interior and aluminum siding. Inside is the dome is placeholder for video projection equipment so this can be used for multimedia exhibitions. The starting bid is US$ 100.000 and there’s a little less than a month to bid.

To bid or find more information, click here.

Russia will decorate its pavilion for the 2010 World Expo like a fairy-tale world, showing a comfortable city as seen through children’s eyes. The country unveiled its pavilion design which will be on a 6,000-square-meter plot and feature 12 white towers inspired by traditional Russian women’s costume.

The 20-meter towers, in white, red and gold, will duplicate the ancient Ural towns dating back 3,000 years ago, but given a modern touch with their irregular shapes. They demonstrate the diversity of both ancient and modern cities, said Vladimir Strashko, Russia’s commission general for the Expo.

A 15-meter-tall central building will link the towers. More images after the break. read more »

The concept design competition for the Romania Pavilion, “Exchange of Ideas”, was won by SC M&C Strategy Development who designed Greenopolis, “The green mega polis”. Name of the pavilion is term with universal meaning, metamorphosed in a fruit, the apple, which means health, knowledge, freshness, temptation, eternity. The surrounding Greenopolis landscape recreates principal elements of the nature (the lawn from the hills, rivers, grass).

The apple is divided in two parts: the main body from which is detached a slice, the secondary body. The inside architectural design has generous and multifunctional spaces, disposed on 5 floors and the access in Greenopolis follows a natural line which allows visiting all the modules without passing over any zone. Seen at Big Creative Industries. More images after the break. read more »

Mexican architects SLOT won an international competition to design the Mexican Pavilion for the World Expo Shanghai 2010. The pavilion’s design is born from the idea of representing Mexico through its traditional elements which haven’t been exploited in these kinds of fairs. The proposal scheme is centered around the idea of creating a green space within the expo which at the same time represents our preoccupation to offer a better life standard for cities through the recovery of green areas rather than creating a protagonist building.

The Mexican pavilion is a volume defined by a talud (slope) which transforms itself into a plaza privileging public space as an urban gesture within the expo. Space is divided in three levels which represent three different moments of urban life in our country. The past is represented on the plinth, present time Mexico at the entrance level, and future on the platform.

The pavilion’s main feature lies within the design of the papalotes (kites), a word that comes from the Nahuatl papalotl which means butterfly, used as a cultural meeting point between mexican and chinese cultures. Our proposal is to look into a future with areas which are thought, destined and planned specifically for leisure, the recovery of parks and green areas, where new generations might meet in a city with a “better living”. More images and a video after the break. read more »

The Finnish pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 is called “Kirnu” (“Giant’s Kettle”). Designed by a team from Helsinki-based architect’s office JKMM, Kirnu won first prize among 104 entries in the design competition, which was announced in May 2008.

The results were made public in October 2008 in Helsinki. The planning started immediately, and construction began in April 2009, with the pavilion due to be completed in December 2009. The head designer of the pavilion is architect Teemu Kurkela. Below is a description of the Kirnu concept as seen by the architect.

More images, video and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Antoine Damery, sent us his design for the Peddle Thorp Architects submission for the international competition for the thematic pavilion of the Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea.

The pavilion is prototypical architecture, drawing from the multidisciplinary source of product design- urban planning-architecture and naval design. The pavilion is resolved as a vessel – a floating exhibition space that can be sailed to other cities. It’s an evolution of architecture- a futuristic adaptable living building that can adapt to suit an unknowable future. Its ingenuity will encourage multidisciplinary problem solving through sustainable solutions.

More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

The foundation of the Nepal Pavilion was completed this week. With the theme “Tales of Kathmandu City,” the pavilion will capture important historic moments of the city. The pavilion will put on display the luster of Katmandu, the capital city of Nepal and an architectural, artistic and cultural center that has developed over 2,000 years.

The theme touches upon the soul of a city by exploring its past and future. Another highlight of the pavilion will be Nepal’s efforts in environmental protection and developing renewable energies. The pavilion is in the form of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, surrounded by traditional Nepalese houses.

A car or motorcycle rally will run from Lumbini to the Expo site. The rally will bring the “eternal flame of peace” to Shanghai from Nepal. More images after the break. read more »

Construction has already began on the Venezuela Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site. The 3,000-square-meter Venezuela Pavilion will look like a figure 8 – a symbolic number in both China and Venezuela – and depict many traditional aspects of the country’s history and culture with the theme “A Better Life, Better City.”

The Yanomami tribe that has thrived in the rainforests of South America for thousands of years will perform in the pavilion. Another highlight of the pavilion will be a Venezuelan children’s orchestra, which will perform in a 286-seat theater on July 5, Venezuela’s National Day, said Temir Ponceleon, the country’s commissioner general of the Expo.

The pavilion will be in the geometric shape of a “Mobius strip,” or an inverted cylinder. The exhibition area will feature two-way audiovisual transmissions via satellite between Shanghai and Venezuela. More images and a video after the break. read more »

Chinese jade culture through its 8,000-year history will take center stage at the Taiwan-based Aurora Group’s Expo 2010 Pavilion. Jade symbolizes the national character such as gentleness, perseverance and the pursuit of peace, and the Expo will provide a platform to help promote such hopes, Tan Baijuan, deputy director of the pavilion, said yesterday while unveiling the design.

The pavilion will feature rare exhibits such as a piece of 2.5-ton jade and Beijing Olympic medals made of fine jade from the Kunlun Mountains in Northwest China’s Qinghai Province.

The theatre inside the pavilion will show Chinese myths and about 30 rare jade relics from the Aurora Museum will also be exhibited. The biggest challenge now is to squeeze the soul of jade’s history spanning thousands of years into a short journey of 20 minutes, said Tan. More images after the break. read more »

The pavilion consists of three areas — Whispering Garden, Hall of Light and Hall of Innovations. The Whispering Garden is a green orchard that greets visitors as they enter the building. Some facilities will be installed to make the trees begin to “whisper” in both English and Chinese when visitors walk close to them, Haim Z. Dotan, chief designer of the pavilion, told Shanghai Daily.

The hall of Light includes a 15-meter high screen. It will display films highlighting the country’s innovations and technological achievements.

The Hall of Innovation is the centerpiece of the Israel Pavilion. A special audio-visual show will allow visitors to talk with Israeli children, scientists, doctors and inventors via hundreds of screens. These Israelis will introduce themselves and share their hopes for a better future. Israel allocated about US$6 million for its participation at Expo 2010, which includes the cost of its pavilion and other activities. It is the first time Israel has committed to building a national pavilion at a World Expo. Images and video after the break. read more »

The Pakistan Pavillion will be a replica of the Lahorte Fort, an iconic symbol of the city of Lahorte. The fort dates back to the year 1025 AD and is the cultural capital of modern-day Pakistan.

The 2,000 square meter pavillion is themed “harmony in diversity”, and will show various aspects of the best of Pakistan’s cities, merged into one showcase of tradition, culture, modernity and history.

In the pavilion, visitors will be able to experience the life of a typical Pakistani citizen through detailed visual and multimedia presentations. More images, after the break. read more »

Architects: Hoogte Twee Architecten – Arnhem
Location: Arnhem, The Netherlands
Client: GB family
Project team: Peter Groot, Martin-Paul Neys
Contractor: Kuijpers Bouw Heteren bv.
Structural Engineer: Krekon bv
Project year: 2004-2005
Photographs: Hoogte Twee Architecten

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The Chinese Pavillion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is already in construction. Being the country that hosts the World Expo, the pavillion designed by Chinese architect He Jingtang stands in the central location of the Expo site at 63 meters tall, which triple the height of any other pavillion.

The main structure of the China Pavillion, “The Crown of the East,” has a distinctive roof, made of traditional dougong or brackets, which has a history dating back more than 2,000 years.

Below the main structure, there will be a 45,000-square-meter joint pavilion featuring the displays from local provinces, cities and regions. For more information, click here. More images after the break. read more »

Hungary inveiled the design for their pavillion for next year’s Shanghai World Expo, designed by Tamás Lévai. Gömböc, as a hungarian invention, is the central element of the exhibition, a two meter high solid plexiglass moving object.

What is Gömböc (pronounced as ‘goemboets‘)? ‘Gömböc’ is the first known homogenous object with one stable and one unstable equilibrium point, thus with two equilibria altogether on a horizontal surface. It can be proven that no object with less than two equilibria exists. The discovery of the inaccessible path has led to the idea of GÖMBÖC. The pavilion as wood is intended to represent this path, and since it is of immaterial nature, we are trying to evoke it with non materials: empty space, light and sounds.

More images, a video and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Jacques Ferrier Architects were selected to design the French Pavillion at Shanghai Expo 2010. Their project ‘The Sensual City’ is a simple building with a big style French garden inside. Surrounded by water it appears to be floating.

The 6000 square meter pavillion will use advanced building materials and environmental protection technology including solar panels on top of the roof.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »

Conix Architects in collaboration with JV Realys have won the competition to design the Belgian Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010.

The structure of a brain cell is the dominant conceptual image for the pavilion. It aims to evokes the artistic and scientific richness of Belgium and the country’s central position within Europe.

The brain cell also refers directly to the role of Belgium as one of Europe’s main gathering centres and cross-points of 3 great cultural traditions: the Latin, the Germanic and the Anglo-Saxon. Belgium, closely connected to its surrounding countries, has always been a ‘place of balance’ where people have gathered with common interests that surpass their national needs.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »

The Pavilion of Ideas, designed by Heatherwick Studio, beat five other short-listed designs, including plans put forward by the creators of the London Eye – the largest Ferris wheel in the world – to becomes the winner. The pavilion looks like a box with thousands of spines that hover without visible support above a public square.

All the spines, which can swing in the breeze, are tipped with tiny colored light sources which can display a variety of images together.

Inside the pavilion, visitors will see an enormous digital screen showing various contents. The outside area of the pavilion will be an exhibition space and auditorium as well as a cafe and shops surrounded by two strips of grass. The pavilion will be as ecological as possible and the designers are trying to make all the aspects recyclable and carbon-neutral. It is light, without heavy concrete foundations and will “touch the ground softly,” according to the introduction by Heatherwich.

Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break. read more »

The Spain Pavilion will have a steel structure and a wicker cover. Spanish handcrafters will weave out different patterns by using different colors of wicker, said Benedetta Tagliabue, designer of the pavilion. The wicker will be covered by a special material that is water-proof. It will also keep the pavilion at a comfortable temperature, said Tagliabue.

Also, the pavilion of course is very strong, she said. The designers have considered the possibility of bad weather during the Expo period such as typhoons or the summer Plum Rain season, said Tagliabue. The Spanish government is going to invest 1.8 million euros (US$2.6 million) in the pavilion, said Javier Conde de Saro, Spain’s commissioner general for World Expo Shanghai.

The pavilion, with a total floor area of 8,500 square meters, will have both open squares for cultural performances and an indoor area for exhibitions and cafeterias.

Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break. read more »

Switzerland unveiled the model of its national pavilion for World Expo Shanghai, a pavilion with soybean-fibre coverage and entertaining rooftop cable cars.

The design by Buchner Bründler Architects, chosen out of the 104 candidates through a world-wide competition, focuses on the sustainable development as well as harmony and balance, which coincide with the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang.

“This piece of work best shows the characteristics of modern Switzerland – pursuing excellence, innovation and high-quality life,” said Manuel Salchli, deputy commissioner general of the Swiss pavilion in the Expo. “We hope to attract a big percentage of the 70 million visitors to the Expo Shanghai.”

The most distinguished feature of the pavilion is the outside curtain, made from degradable soybeans and dye-sensitized solar cells that are capable of generating electricity, introduces Salchli. The curtain will present an image of forest, which will remind people of the nature, said Salchli. And the fibre of the curtain could be degraded after being disposed in the soil in two week.

Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break. read more »