Did you know they’re still holding the World’s Fair? I’m not surprised if you don’t — It’s taking place this year in Shanghai, and of the nearly 200 countries participating, each one has built a unique pavilion that showcases its art, history, and culture. These pavilions represent some of the most high-concept, wicked crazy architecture the world has ever seen.
Where else in the world might you find a building made out of 60,000 fiber optic cables (pictured below) — each one with a different plant seed embedded inside? Or record-breaking structures made entirely out of unlikely materials like wicker, cork, and bamboo? Or an absolutely mammoth pavilion for the host country (so big it eclipses all the other pavilions) that looks like it was made out of LEGO bricks? The pictures (like the one above) don’t do it justice — people appear as tiny specks at the bottom of the building.
The state-of-the-art pavilions are marvels to behold, and it seems that each one of them has its own unique story and trivia to share. The Canadian pavilion, for example, a flowing construction of Canadian cedar designed to capture rainwater, was designed in part by Cirque du Soleil. Saudi Arabia’s pavilion is nicknamed the “moon boat,” because it resembles an enormous oil tanker/half moon, with an oasis of hanging gardens up top. South Korea’s colorful pavilion looks like it was made to resemble a gigantic house of cards (it’s actually made of Korean character tiles). Taiwan has a giant LED spherical screen that’s encased in a lantern-shaped glass cube. Poland’s extreme structure was inspired by intricate papercutting art.
Spaceships seem to be a common theme, from the massive, saucer-shaped Expo Culture Center, to Germany’s angular pavilion, and Egypt’s pavilion that evokes a space shuttle.
Not all of them are winners. Macau made a weird giant-bunny-on-wheels thing. But it seems that the most unimpressive of the lot is the United States pavilion, a drab affair shaped like a car dealership that’s filled with little more than commercials for its corporate sponsors.
The Shanghai World Expo just opened May 1st, and will remain open until October 31st.
