5. September - October 2010

ARCHITECTURE
China had been on my mind for a long
time. There is constant chatter of
India and China as being the world’s
economic equations. However after visiting
Beijing, Shanghai and few other smaller
places – one needs to see it to believe the
change of this communist country. If China
started on the communistic ideology and
footsteps of Mao, today it is in competition
with the capitalist. Shanghai would give New
York city a run in terms of the infrastructure
and the vibrancy of the city. The spirit of
competition and China’s arrival as the world’s
economic engine could not be a better time
to couple it with the staging of the World Expo
2010 in Shanghai.
Better City, Better Life
The expo’s theme ‘Better City, Better Life’
resonates louder as one scans through
Shanghai’s Urban Planning Museum - a must
see museum in the city, even before entering
the Expo. If America’s thinking was ‘Xtra-large
size’ of the West, China seems to mix a similar
thinking with the cultural undertone of the
east. The Huangpo river-side development,
zoning and traffic management and the
world class airport are the tip of the iceberg
that unearths a city trying to come to terms
with the high energy it possesses. It also
spells out the infrastructural background
that is necessary to attract an international
event. The sight of a detailed scaled model
of Shanghai city gives you an insight into the
city – sparking the thought of the Chinese
mind delving into the mechanics and
evolutionary vision of the city.
Expo 2010 is staged in an area between
Nanpu Bridge and Lupu Bridge along both
sides of the Huangpu River in downtown
Shanghai covering an area of 5.28 sq.km. If
one googles and checks the transformation
from 1994 to 2010, the spot satellites
interestingly reveals Shanghai’s urban
transformation into a futuristic city as the
financial hub of the country. Factories,
docks and shipyards have given way
to innovative and experimental-iconic
architectural creations that seems to
stress the arrival of China. A rapid growth of
a city that today generates 20% of China’s
industrial production and has become the
world’s number one port, also contrasts in
the disappearance of farming belts within a
period of 15years.
Zoning
The Expo 2010 is divided into five zones with
three in Pudong side and two in Puxi Area. Zone A
and B comprises of the Pavilions of Asian nations
along with the Urbanism pavilion, Pavilion of city
being and Pavilions of international organizations.
Zone C has the Pavilions of European American
and African nations whereas Zone D comprises of
Pavilions of Footprint and Pavilions of Enterprises.
Zone E has Pavilions of Future and Pavilions of
Enterprises.
When one enters the Expo area, the complexity
of the exhibition area slowly unravels as different
country pavilions sparks their voice in different
rhythms. If there was conservation, beauty and
cultural highlights in some of the Asian pavilions
– there seems to be more experimentation or
breaking away from the craft of the past, to free
flow - free form structures of the developed
nations. The initial Disneyland wonder slowly
fades as you begin to savour the Country Pavilions.
Nepal
Pavilion
© Google
© Google
www.spacesnepal.com 46
September-October 2010