Dreaming big is what the Expo is all about. Whether it's about new technology, or a creative invention, the grand event is where many have made their debut. Inspired by the idea of the metamorphosis of a butterfly and traditional Chinese philosophy, the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion is dreaming up some ideas of its own. The pavilion is trying to connect the old and the new to predict what our life may look like in the future
You may see construction going on everywhere in this busy city, and this one looks no special. This area located on the northern part of Huang Pu River is where the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion will be in the 2010 Expo, and in fact, it IS a little bit special. Because you won't see anything corporate as you may have expected, all you going to see is about DREAM.
In fact, pavilion organizers don't call it a pavilion, they call it dream cube. People may find from its name, that there is strong connection between the building and DREAM.
Mary Gu, president of Shanghai corporate pavilion, said, "I think everybody's concern right now or issues in the society right now which is related to the corporate or industrial business is pollution, environmental issues. And what our responsibility is trying to make everybody's dream come true.
Making a dream come true is no easy job, especially the dream of a city to offer its people a better life. But expo has always been such a platform for people to experience new technology or invention, and even new life style. People wouldn't expected that we will have ice cream hundred years ago, if we hadn't the St. Louise Expo. We wouldn't have had light if we hadn't 1878 Paris Expo. There were numerous inventions happened in the expo telling people where our life should go to. In 2010, this may happen again
Yung Ho Chang, principal architect of Shanghai corporate pavilion, said, "Expo is an event where we are really trying to look into the future. If we talk about inspiration for the architecture of the shanghai corporate pavilion I think really is the possibility to looking into the future through our design, what kind of life we may have in China or in shanghai maybe in the 50 years down the road."
What our life may look like in the future maybe a difficult question to answer. But dream cube made some try-outs.
Take plastic waste for example, each year china produces 140 million tons of plastic waste, only 25% of this waste is recycled. In shanghai, an estimated 30 million CDs are thrown away every year. These CDs can be recycled to produce polycarbonate pellets to manufacture new polycarbonate products. So the exterior facade of the dream cube is exactly clad with polycarbonate tubes. The better thing is after the expo ends, the polycarbonate components of the pavilion can be completely recycled to reduce further wastes
Mary Gu said, "There are 30 million recycled CDs being wasted every year in shanghai, so if we accumulate all of that, we probably have already accumulated all the construction material we need for the structure of our building."
Solar power is another one that dream cube take into consideration. Solar panel technology is today's cleanest and most sustainable energy alternative. The roof of the dream cube is covered with hot water solar panels. Water is heated by solar energy to produce steam, which in turn is used to power an electric generator. The resulting cooled water is then reused as it sent back through the circle. The electricity produced can be used to provide power for exhibition spaces and office spaces, as well as to power the exterior LED facade. As the night falls, the LED facade lights up. Shiny and sparkling, the building produces a tantalizing and mesmerizing effect.
Rainwater on the site will also be recycled, filtered and cleaned to be used by the facade misters and can also be used for other daily uses. The facade misters are passive devices used to cool as well as clean the surrounding area, creating a more comfortable environment. The misters on the facade can be electrically controlled to produce varying effects on the facade.
These are only part of the technologies the dream cube is taking as a try, and of course all of them are eco-friendly. A virtual butterfly will take every visitor go through the pavilion, and experience them all. But why butterfly?
Don Mischer, director of Shanghai corporate pavilion, said, "The caterpillar that transforms itself into a butterfly is one of nature's greatest transitions and transformations. We as humans will also have to transform. We are going to have to transform our behavior. What resources we use, what we take, how much energy we use everyday? What kind of car we drive? We've gonna have to take this resources and figure out how to make them last longer and work better. We've gonna have to transform this behavior. Just like the butterfly transform, we too transform if we are going to survive."
Transfer or we simply say change is the key word pavilion organizers take from the butterfly. While the dream cube is taking itself as a model to show how would our life will be changed into in the future, they are still trying to call for people's attention on the change of their behavior.
Shaped in a transparent cube, Shanghai Corporate Pavilion takes a land of 4,000 square meters, and use "My city, our dream" as its theme. As the expo theme goes, to find a possible better life style may not only be the dream of the dream cube, it is the dream of our city.