On August 19, 2008, 1351st day before the opening of Expo Shanghai, the construction campaign of Expo Shanghai Site is commenced officially. At the 5.28-square-kilometers land, the major structures of Expo Shanghai will be constructed in series in the coming two years.

Today, we find that every thing is in place and ready for construction when we enter into the Expo Site. Newly concreted foundation piles, and steel structures in arrays are trying to map out the outline of the site for Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

It is too hot to walk in the construction site with flying dust under the burning sunshine, but it is also exciting to imagine the scene of such site after two years.

A Preliminary Tour of the Expo Site

Written by: Editorial Department

Photographed by: Xiang Xinrong, Xu jiechen, Jiang ying

The Expo Axis

Location: Central area in Pudong side of Expo Site

Function: Large commercial and traffic complex, the largest single project in the Expo Site, and main axis line of spatial landscape and human circulation in the Expo Site

Post-utilization: Main axis line for spatial landscape and urban traffic for future in Shanghai

Commencement of construction: December 28, 2006

Expected completion time: By the end of 2009

Current status: Under construction

Overview

The Expo Axis is a semi-open building and has two floors underground, two above the ground. It is a commercial and traffic complex integrating with commercial services, catering, entertainment, convention and exhibition, and other functions. The canopy and sunshine valley will be designed in the elevated level of Expo Axis.

During the Expo Shanghai, it will be the main entrance of Expo Site to connect the four permanent pavilions through overhead platform and underground passage, even the elevated pedestrian walk crossing Pudong area of Expo Site. The Expo Axis acts as a ring road of traffic network and the visitors can access to different pavilions from here after they enter into Pudong area of Expo Site.

On-the-spot Report

From the No. 2 exit of Yaohua Road Station of Metro Line 8 (eastern side of Shangnan Road and southern side of South Pudong Road), you can find the entrance for construction site of Expo Site very soon and here is also the end of Expo Axis.

Entering from the western side, the heavy duty trucks with a capacity of more than 20 tons stand in a line from time to time. After crossing the truck line, the reporter meets the first "witness" for the day.

He is Mr. Yu, Prior to talking with the reporter, he was busy with cleaning the roads beside the Expo Boulevard and this is also his daily work. Mr. Yu said that his working area was close to the Expo Axis and he was a witness for every minor changes of the Expo Axis. He kept a lot of memories on such changes.

"It was the same time in last year, when the construction of Expo Axis entered into the phase of excavation of foundation pit." Mr. Yu remembered while taking the towel from the hamlet and wiping off the sweet dropping from his cheeks. And now, being the earliest constructed project in the Expo Site, the construction of Expo Axis is performed smoothly and the underground civil engineering is almost completed. Mr. Yu said that he stayed here for nearly one year.

The reporter went back to the roof. Standing at the roof, you can have a look at the emerging magnificent appearance of Expo Axis. The round holes that can be seen on the ground were locations of "Sunshine valley" introducing green and sunlight into individual spatial levels. You can imagine that the upper level of beautiful membrane structure likes a dynamic flowing lake, and the sunshine valley likes the white water of the lake. Visually, the Expo Axis will span the Huangpu River and connect the themes between both sides.

The construction in Expo Site entered into upsurge phase in 2008; into "Vertical construction" phase in 2009, and at that time the construction staff will reach 20,000 or 30,000 persons. The atmosphere was totally different from the beginning, we felt that the steps became lighter.

China Pavilion

Location: Section B in Pudong area of Expo Site, eastern side of Expo Axis Floor area: Total floor area of about 140,000 square meters

Post-utilization: China National Pavilion will be reserved as thematic museum of World Exposition permanently, and the Regional Pavilion will be used as premises for various commercial exhibitions and activities

Commencement of construction: December 18, 2007

Expected completion time: By the end of 2009

Current status: Under construction

Overview

The traditional Chinese archi-cultural elements, such as the Dougong brackets on roof structure and nine--folded scripts engraved on the elevations will be introduced to reflect and convey Chinese people's dream and longing for World Expo.

The China Pavilion is designed with the concept of "the Crown of the East". The traditional Chinese wooden structure architecture element–Dougong brackets is introduced. The design concept can be summarized into 16 words, "the Crown of the East, the Crest of Chinese, the Barn for the World and Wealthy People". The height of China National Pavilion is 63 meters and the cascade levels shape urban sculpture to reflect the landmark of China Pavilion. The Regional Joint Pavilion is 14 meters high and extends the city texture horizontally to shape a solid base of the building and construct a space for public activities in the city.

On-the-spot Report

After visiting all the cranes and being familiar with the noise made by bulldozers, the reporter always dialed the number of Mr. He Jingtang, the designer of China Pavilion on the way to China Pavilion, but always failed and could not get through.

"The architecture is not piled up but created by heart." The word from by Mr. He Jingtang always haunted the reporters' mind. The China Pavilion of Expo Shanghai will deeply reflect the Chinese culture, emphasize Chinese elements, and focus on the main theme of "Chinese wisdom in urban development" so as to sufficiently demonstrate the spiritual contents of Chinese people of“Constantly striving for the stronger, better morality better achievement, learning from the nature and harmony integrating diversity.

Such spiritual contents can be found in any people related to the China Pavilion, including the staff being active in the construction site. While walking around the construction, the reporter saw more than 200 construction workers from Shanghai Construction Group piling for the China Pavilion. When the first light hits on the construction site of Expo Site in every early morning, these people are already busy with construction works for Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

According to the onsite visit, the conditions of construction site were quite poor. The site was filled with dust in good weather and with slurry and mud in rainy weather. But all of these difficulties can not impact their enthusiasm.

Mr. Wang, 43 years old and from Sichuan Province, has been to Shanghai for 11 years. "When I came to Shanghai for the first time in 1997, that was the time of construction of Shanghai Outdoor Stadium, and now it is the construction of China Pavilion for Expo Shanghai, I feel very proud!" His words were very simple, "To work here is very good, and a number of volunteers often come to the site to provide various services such as repairing, haircutting, cultural performances and medical services." Mr. Wang said in smiling. According to his words, the construction was very urgent, because the China Pavilion was a huge project and the deepest pile pit was more than 60 meters deep, even normal pile pit would be more than 30 meters deep. Recently, the engineering of total 5000 piles was basically completed within only 4 months and the foundation construction was being performed at present.

The Expo Shanghai Site on the planning was gradually coming into reality.

When the reporter intended to leave the construction site, Mr. He Jingtang was contacted eventually. He said through the telephone line that, all the drawings of China Pavilion were completed on July 20. He expected that the most attractive topic regarding the current construction should be replied by the real construction workers through their actions. Under the arms of piling machines and tower cranes everywhere, the China Pavilion was emerging gradually and the "large stage" to be established during Expo Shanghai for international "Understanding, communication, gathering and cooperation" was also portrayed vividly.

Theme Pavilions in Pudong

Location: Section B, western side of Expo Axis

Floor area: Total area of 80,000 square meters above ground and 40,000 square meters underground

Post-utilization: Permanent structure

Commencement of construction: November 10, 2007

Expected completion time: By the end of September of 2009

Current status: Under construction

Overview

The Theme Pavilion of Expo 2010 Shanghai China consists of five pavilions. In addition to the three dazzling pavilions of "Urban Planet", "City Being”and“Urbanian" in Pudong side, there are two more pavilions of "Urban Civilization & Art" and "Future" to be exhibited in western bank of Huangpu River through renovation and modification of old buildings.

Among these pavilions, "Urban Planet", "City Being" and "Urbanian" are close to each other and constitute a newly built theme pavilion cluster in Pudong side. Their shape conceiving focuses on the old Shanghai "lane" and "dormer", to form a two-three-dimension spatial structure by means of "origami". The roof inspired from the characters of "dormer" of front window and back slope is of unique features.

"Quietly blooming city flower of Shanghai", this is the interpretation by the designers for "Shanghai Style" of" Theme Pavilion" for Expo Shanghai.

On-the-spot Report

The east facade of Theme Pavilion is opposite to the Expo Boulevard. Along the Expo Axis, it took a short time to arrive at the construction site of Theme Pavilion. The reporter made an appointment for interview with Mr. Shi Jianpei, GM of Theme Pavilion Construction Branch Company at his current working place, the 2nd floor of the provisional office building beside the construction site. In his office, Mr. Shi was busy with picking up the telephone one after another. The reporter carefully looked at his office, the window was exactly opposite to the construction site of Theme Pavilion and the other three walls were filled with interior effect drawings of Theme Pavilion.

"The construction was commenced on December 10 of last year, currently the underground engineering is performed, the main structure will be completed by the end of this year, the interior decoration will be started in the beginning of the next year, and the exhibition and display will be commenced in June." Shi Jianpei and his team will face a new round of challenge again.

According to his words, the reporter also realized that, the construction of Theme Pavilion has overcome a lot of difficulties caused by rain season in the last month and the bracing foundation pit program well designed and conducted by experts played an important role during the construction. Now, the construction of Theme Pavilion has gone through the critical stage of excavation of foundation pit successfully. Furthermore, he told me that the first basement stiff post was erected on June 18, 8 days ahead of schedule. At the same time, the polar installation was commenced simultaneously. Such technical terms sounded very strange to me, a totally layman, and the data also had no meaning for such a people. However, I was sure that, all the construction workers who were working hard on the site in such a hot season must make contribution to such a great construction to the utmost of their capabilities. In future, more and more technical terms which are“fresh”to me will emerge and more and more figures will be accumulated to shock every one’s heart.

The Expo Center

Location: Waterfront greenery land in Section B of Expo Site, eastern side of Lupu Bridge

Floor area: total floor area of about 140,000m2

Post-utilization: to be reserved permanently and transformed into international first class convention center

Commencement of construction: June 7, 2007

Expected completion time: October of 2009

Current status: Under construction

Overview

Being one of the distinct features of Expo Center, its layout was designed by making fully use of waterfront landscapes and most functional spaces of the building were equipped with best eyeshot through rational design to become a real panoramic building. The architectural pattern of Expo Center combined modern visual concepts and strewed at random from the west to the east in order to express a vibrant and orderly rhythm. On the basis of making fully use of waterfront landscapes and landscape resources of the Expo Site, the designer created glittering and translucent interior space and exterior appearance while satisfying the requirements for energy conversation and ecology.

Being background of the city, this function-based building not only represented the pattern characteristic of waterfront buildings but also would become a real green building and a building filled with wisdom.

On-the-spot Report

This was the second time that the reporter visited the construction site of Expo Center closely. Mr. Wu, senior political engineer of Project Department of Expo Center, who became friend in the last visit, enthusiastically acted as guide for the reporter.

Standing on the construction site of Expo Center beside the river and looking at the Huangpu River, the left was Lupu Bridge, Mr. Wu told me that Lupu Bridge was the best viewing point for Expo Center.

The Expo Center was the structure whose construction was commenced earlier among the four permanent structures of Expo Shanghai. According to Mr. Wu’s words, the reporter understood that the Expo Center, together with Theme Pavilion, went through the tests of the extremely heavy snow storm and rain season in the first and second quarters of 2008. Although the bad weather conditions brought a lot of difficulties, even dangers to construction, the engineering still progressed consistently through the efforts of all the construction team. The construction site in front of us has changed remarkably, the underground structure of 40,000m2 was completed on May 15 and the erection of steel structure above ground and underground mechanical and electrical installation were commenced at present.

There were a lot of names behind these surprising changes, they were the builders who undertook the construction of Expo Center. Among them, there were winners of national May 1 labor medal, winners of Shanghai May 1 labor medal, as well as a number of Top 100 winners of Labor Contest of Contribution for Major Construction Projects of Expo Shanghai. The common point of them was that their names and their honors were closely related to the construction of Expo Center.

While looking at the Expo Center Under construction and the busy surroundings, the reporter would like to find some builders on the site to take a photo of their working, or ask them to talk about their work, life, wish and vision. Mr. Wu "stopped" the reporter's intention. It could be understood that they were too busy, or similar to Mr. Wu, they didn't want to be "interviewed" but wanted to be a "guide" to lead you visit the "reality" of the Expo Center and experience its "growth". Every builder appreciated this opportunity very much and tried their best.

Maybe for compensation, Mr. Wu showed the reporter a panoramic photo of the construction site of Expo Center that he took few days before with elated emotion. In this picture, the construction site was filled with steel structures and welding sparks, and the Expo Center was emerging out of the earth.

The Expo Performance Center

Location: Section B in Pudong side of Expo Site, eastern side of Expo Boulevard

Floor area: Total floor area of 80,000m2

Post-utilization: Reserved permanently and used as Shanghai International Cultural Exchange Center

Commencement of construction: December 30, 2007

Expected completion time: By the end of 2009

Current status: Under construction

Overview

The Expo Shanghai Performance Center resembled a flying saucer and would be displayed in different patterns from different perspectives and spaces. During day time, it would look like a "spatial and temporal shuttle" or a "shell of the sea of arts"; during night time, it would become "a floating city".

The building was designed with intensive layout by using the Lupu Bridge located in northwestern area as background. The soft architectural patter was integrated in the waterfront greenery land, combined with the Expo Celebration Square, connected and coordinated with the Celebration Square for indoor and outdoor interaction, and corresponded to the western Expo Axis and Expo Center and the southern China Pavilion.

On-the-spot Report

It was nearly evening time to enter into the construction site of Performance Center. This was the "point" on the map of Expo Site that was most close to the Huangpu River. As it was the last constructed project among the permanent structures of Expo Shanghai, the sense of“floating city”was not shaped yet.

The reporter remembered that it was on one day in the end of last year and at the exact same location, the first pile of Performance Center was drilled. Drums, fireworks, balloons and color ribbons were filled every where for celebration of commencement of construction of another permanent structure for Expo Shanghai. And now half of year past, the Performance Center, similar to the China Pavilion, was in the foundation engineering phase.

Even it was close to the work finishing time, the busy atmosphere did not fade at all.

When it became dark, the reporter wanted to find an elevated point on the site, but observed that most lamps on the site were energy saving lamps. Just a worker passed by, he said that not only the energy saving lamps were used on the construction site, but also a central controller was set up based on the construction schedule. It would switch off as soon as the work was finished.

In addition, a man looked like a leader added that, all the construction projects including Performance Center improved construction techniques and adopted new construction materials to save steel and wood. Furthermore, the saving contest was implemented throughout the Expo Site and the energy saving star was selected among the construction staff.

"The construction enters into the most difficulty phase." At the same time, the reporter thought that both design of pavilion and the current construction were all of high level line of sight. The concept of green exposition was sufficiently reflected during the construction process and the busy construction site became an arena for contest of energy conservation and environmental protection.

Being a waterfront building with large span and space, the Performance Center in front of the reporter was inputting the concept of "Better City, Better Life" into the physical construction and would become new landmark of Shanghai following the exposition.

The Expo Park

Theme:“Green City”

Location: In the area of Zhoujiadu and Bailianjing

Designed by: NITA Group of Netherlands

Floor area: 29 hectares

Current status: Preliminarily shaped

Expected completion time: October of 2008

Post-utilization: Permanently reserved

On-the-spot Report

"In Shanghai different parks were created by individual ages. Most of the previous parks emphasized on human being's ability to reform the nature. But now, the park should reflect how the people respect the nature."

Mr. Zhu Shengxuan, designer of NITA Group of Netherlands, said that the Expo Park was an milestone park.

This 29 hectares land would become the largest greenery land in downtown of Shanghai. It would be attractive due to its simple concept and powerful design.

With respect to the exterior, the designer employed two innovative ideas of "bund" and "fan" in a subtle manner.

"We utilized the shape of 'bund' and connected the park to the surrounding environment 'seamlessly'. "Zhu Shengxuan introduced. In this casual look atmosphere, the displaced natural land shape was created so as to make the park and surrounding roads and buildings to constitute an integral system. The colors of flora would also fade based on the shape of "bund", from the dark color at center to light color at surrounding area.

The whole park looked like a fan based on the shape and gradually elevated trend. The high arbors acted as ribs of the fan. Zhu Shengxuan said that, matrix type plantation of arbors would achieve better air convection but also extend the spatial visual field.

"The whole park is elevated and extended along the Huangpu River, just like opening of traditional fan in bristle, and a vertical black and white mountain and water painting was displayed under the elegant fan ribs."

After hearing such introduction by the designer, every one could not help coming to the park Under construction to have a first look.

Although the park was under construction, 80% of construction works have been completed. The preliminarily shaped park had unique green frameworks and some rare imported flowers reflected the level of the park.

The workers were doing routine maintenance and trimming works such as watering, maintenance, repair of flood control passage, under the scorching sunshine.

Passing through a field of kumquat trees, Mr. Han, the Manager of Expo Park Construction Project said, "Most trees imported this time are rare, for example, 5 Orient Fir (40-50cm), and 3 large Gingko (50-60cm)." In order to look after these rare trees properly, even the nutritious solution for daily watering was imported from Japan. Mr. Han specially emphasized that every tree was indicated on the drawings and had its own location.

When I came to the flood control passage, the workers were performing the final finishing works. One worker explained to the reporter that, the ramp was used as flood control wall. The flood control passage can discharge the flood even the flood once in one hundred years.

Some roads in the park were not completed yet. Mr. Han introduced that they would not employ the traditional material of granite but some natural water penetrative materials, such as gravels, sands and even shells which were environmental friendly coolant. In addition, more domestically advanced gardening technologies were adopted for the park, for example, the land shape was created by trash soil, and the water for irrigation and landscape was taken from the Huangpu River directly following bio-purification treatment.

Except the water system, road construction and some plants to be planted in the next year, the park could be called an excellent greenery land at present. Just as Zhu Shengxuan said, "It was delicate but natural, traditional but fashion, rich in culture but economic, and ecological but comfortable."

The Sculpture

Quantity: About two hundred.

Contents: Four major sculpture groups include the World Expo Axis Sculpture Gallery, Riverside Landscape Sculptures, Main Entrance Square Sculptures, and South China Square Sculptures.

Location: The Expo Site main entrances, World Expo Axis, South China Square, Riverside greenbelts, etc.

Time:Get the master plan reviewed and approved in December 2006.

"Press Conference for Collection and Solicitation of the Expo Site Sculpture Design and Planning Schemes for World Expo 2010 Shanghai China" held on March 31, 2008.

By the end of July 2008, determine the design and planning team, who will then start the collection of sculpture works.

Early 2009, select final sculpture works through expert jury review and evaluation, and then start fabrication and construction.

After-utilization: Preservation in-place, or relocation, etc.

Overview

The sculptures at main entrances and exits were mainly located at 8 squares in front of normal pedestrian entrances and exits in the Expo Site and designed with focusing on five concepts including "City", "Urbanian","Urban Planet","Dream”and“Footprint".

The sculpture gallery was located in integrated sculpture strip at the 2nd floor of Expo Boulevard. This gallery was oriented on "Technology" and "Humanism" and emphasized on "Technology promotes the development of city and leads to harmonious coexistence of human and city."

The sculpture square was located in the Jiangnan Square, core greenery square beside the river in Puxi side, and adjacent to the Huangpu River to the south with a land area of about 11.4 hectares. The sculpture square combined various contents such as industrial civilization, historic events and development of technology together to intensively display the inherent strength of industrial relics and the development progress of Chinese national industry.

The sculptures in waterfront scenery strip were to create a waterfront ecological and leisure sculpture scenery strip of 58.6 hectares by making fully use of the large open space of greenery land in Pudong side of Expo Site, Houtan Park, Expo Park and Bailianjing Park.

On-the-spot Report

As an integral part of city, sculptures interpreted the age with their solid postures. The 200 sculptures to be set up in the Expo Site, like the "Musical note" jumping in the Expo Site, would be listened to by the world.

According to introduction by Li Qiang from the Construction Work Group of Sculptures for Expo Shanghai under the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, these 200 sculptures would be divided into four categories based on content and location: categorized into four types: sculptures at main entrances and exits, sculpture gallery, sculpture square, and sculptures in waterfront scenery strip. Of course, the sculptures in individual pavilions were necessary. Although the construction party of the pavilion should be responsible for the corresponding sculptures, all these sculptures must be reviewed and approved by the Construction Work Group of Sculptures for Expo Shanghai eventually.

A good film needs good director and actors. Similarly, the sculpture work in Expo Site also needs excellent design team and works.

It was disclosed that the first work was to solicit design teams for four sculpture projects in the Expo Site, and then these teams would be responsible for solicitation of sculpture works for individual projects. This method of firstly selecting "director" and accordingly selecting "actor" by the "director" was also a kind of integration with international convention practice.

As the solicitation of design teams was conducted globally, more than 10 internationally well-known artistic organizations applied for participation in addition to a number of domestic artistic elites. At present, among the 11 entries, there were five international teams, such as French Mitterrand Arts Center, Japan Toshio Shimizu Art Office, and Australian UAP Company.

In addition, the related authorities would host international sculpture annual exhibition for three successive years since 2007 to attract sculpture talents at home and abroad, and solicit outstanding sculpture works. At the same time, the proposal for some landmark sculpture would be solicited through "assigned topic". Some especially important sculptures would be "cut" by famous masters from domestic and overseas.

Undoubtedly, the Expo sculptures would be an opportunity for international arts exchange while being perfectly integrated into the construction of Expo Site.

In an old factory building inside the Expo Site, a huge artistic project was being performed quietly. The discarded machinery and production parts which were generally regarded as "scrap iron" were processed with discrete imagination and accordingly turned into sculpture works of rich historic sense.

Cities of Nature: Living between Land and Sky

Interview with Mr. Phillip Gibson, the Commissioner General of New Zealand for Expo 2010

Author: Wang Yanbing

Photographer: Xu Jiechen

Before talking with Mr. Phillip Gibson, the Commissioner General of New Zealand for Expo 2010, I learnt of a tale of creation of Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

The sky father and the earth mother emerge. Initially, earth and sky are joined together, too tight for even the light to penetrate. Their children, the gods, conspire to separate their parents, but all fail, until the god of forests, the human, succeed to force his parents apart. This allows light flaw into the world where people live and raise their children from generation to generation.

The power of life implicated in this ancient myth is the source of New Zealanders’creativity, as well as an approach for the Oceanian country to illustrate the theme of World Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

We met at New Zealand Wood Innovation Center in Shanghai, a subsidiary body under the commercial department of the consulate general of New Zealand in Shanghai. That morning, Mr. Phillip Gibson just signed the Expo Participation Contract and released the theme of exhibitions to be presented in New Zealand Pavilion for Expo 2010. Later, he arranged such a nice place full of New Zealand flavors and interactive experiences to continue our conversation, elaborating on the theme to be conveyed by New Zealand Pavilion, the "balance between city and nature". "We intend to have a distinctive presence and the theme chosen will highlight the balance between nature and the urban environment where nature is part of the urban experience," said Gibson. The scenery in the Center convinced us what he described, "nature exists everywhere in New Zealand".

Do the Possible: Participate in Expo 2010

Over a long period, China and New Zealand have maintained their traditional friendship as well as a sound cooperative relationship in culture and business exchange. China is the third largest trade partner of New Zealand and its fourth largest export market. After inking the Free Trade Agreement, the two countries witness a rapid growth in bilateral trade volumes.

"New Zealand is the first developed country to reach a free trade agreement with China. Its historic significance further increases the potential of the Expo for us. New Zealand cities are, by Chinese standards, small and not densely populated. We will do our possible to present a distinctive New Zealand, a small country with big attractions," said Gibson.

Gibson’s words do make sense that Expo 2010 will be a great opportunity and stage for New Zealand to give its best presence to China and even the world. It will also promote the friendship and business communications between our two countries.

"Visitors may find an Asia-Pacific country, the heaven for tourists, full of innovation, with a strong sense of environmental protection, and a real blend of cultures," noted Gibson. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise is leading the country’s preparation efforts for participation in the Expo, which also involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and Tourism New Zealand. It is a big event to New Zealand government as a whole. Gibson was the Commissioner General of New Zealand for World Expo 2005 Aichi Japan. According to him, New Zealand will invest nearly NZ$ 30 million at Shanghai 2010, its largest investment in World Expo ever.

It is known that New Zealand has participated in world expositions since 1851. One of the important causes that pushed New Zealand government to make the decision to come to Shanghai is its strong recognition of the Expo theme.

Cities of Nature: Living between Land and Sky

Talking about the Expo theme "Better City, Better Life", Gibson said, "The Organizer has chosen a great theme for Expo 2010. We make much account of how to present the theme, exploring the way to a harmonious coexistence between human and nature, to the balance between urban development and environmental protection. They are all vital issues to human progress."

New Zealand is famous for its spectacular natural scenery, boundless fields, and an identity of "green and purity". Although New Zealand has a small population of almost 4.3 million, it is highly urbanized with some 86 percent of people living in cities or towns. Major cities rate very highly in world surveys of "livability".

With the wisdom of New Zealanders and their expertise in innovation, we selected such a unique theme "Cities of Nature: Living between Land and Sky" in line with the Expo theme, after careful interpretation and verification. This theme is closely related to Maori culture, and originated from New Zealanders’firm belief–high quality modern city life must be based on the balance between human and natural environment.

How to achieve the harmony between human and nature will be critical for us to advocate a happy life in the future. The possibility of living in a nice environment and enjoying a harmonious coexistence with nature will heavily depend on our rationality and correctness in the practices of urban administration. "With the spirit of innovation and high level of education, New Zealanders are great in originating and applying science and technology, which will make it possible that our cities could keep a continuous and prosperous development in the next 100 years."

The Mysterious Black Box: Make Visitors Feel at Home

The territory of nature? The culture of Maori? The myth of creation? These worlds will be unconsciously associated with the magic backdrop for "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Will the New Zealand Pavilion built on a 2,000-square-meter section of land render visitors into a miniature country with worldwide sceneries? Gibson’s answer quite affords for thought.

"Our pavilion is not intended as a great architectural stage. We are trying to represent the ancient Maori tale by means of various building constructions and exhibitions within New Zealand Pavilion. What we are trying to do is to state who we are as a people, who we are as a country, who we are as a culture. It's more than just a building; it's the symbol of our country and people."

New Zealand Pavilion intends to highlight and convey such a concept–showcase the country's natural beauty, and its people’s sentimentality and hospitality, creativity and ingenuity in scientific and technological R&D and application, and admiration for the city life in New Zealand. "Our pavilion will be designed and arranged in such a way that makes visitors feel at home. It is more important than fanciful building styles."

Gibson pointed out, "Fortunately, we secured a prime site for our Pavilion, which will stand only a stone's throw away from China Pavilion and the huge Theme Pavilion." He also gave a humorous name to New Zealand Pavilion, the "Black Box".

A consortium (known as Coffey) including the leading architects, award-winning exhibition and garden designers and geo-survey experts has been chosen to create the "Black Box". Most members of the joint team were also involved in creating the successful New Zealand Pavilion at the Aichi Expo.

As indicated on the rendering, New Zealand Pavilion appears somewhat a trapezium, inclining from the back to the front. Along the slope, visitors may reach the rear end of the pavilion. A lovely roof veranda there will lead visitors down to the entrance on one side of the pavilion. Once visitors enter, they will be greeted by indigenous New Zealand Maori dancing groups. Another squad of New Zealanders who speak fluent Chinese will guide visitors from the pavilion entrance. Within the Pavilion, an automatic walkway will be provided to guide visitors into a series of structures in the center, which represent the city life in New Zealand; and the suburbs will be on the left side. Another series of exhibitions will render visitors into the Cities of Nature. The roof garden will be the best place for visitors to walk around, relax and enjoy amenities.

"At present, we need to improve the exhibition details and turn design concepts into reality." Gibson does hope that New Zealand Pavilion would bring visitors a big surprise. In addition to the marvelous sceneries for "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Pavilion will offer advanced special effects and digital animation technologies applied in the said movies. Therefore, Gibson is fully confident that New Zealand will create a splendid "Black Box" to the world. He joked that his biggest wish in the near future is to be a real Shanghainese during the Expo.