Taiwan pavilion Shanghai Expo 2010 -The future is here

One more day, so come the new year.
But I want to remember, an international exhibition held in Shanghai this year,
and see the world that will come tomorrow ,and describe a memory from the distant for the younger born, 1975. Being a student in Milan, I first saw in a storefront shop, a small box filled with black buttons, and small red letters and numbers , the calculator.
Who can imagine, what we see today.
Indeed, imagine that someone , how would feel if he came with a time machine, in this international exhibition, will surely think it will be another planet, and we are the aliens.
Let's see a little dose of this international exhibition.

Michael Balaroutsos
architect

Taiwan pavilion

Organizer
‧Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)
‧Taipei World Trade Center


Partners
‧C.Y. LEE & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS/PLANNERS
‧DA CIN Construction Co., Ltd.
‧YAOX Edutainment Co. Ltd., Taipei
‧GL Events (Shanghai)


Theme:
Mountain, Water, & Lantern of the Heart - Nature‧Spirit‧City


The Taiwan Pavilion Expo 2010 uses multi-layered multimedia performances to convey the building’s core concept, “Mountain, Water, & Lantern of the Heart.” In day and night two different appearances, visitors from around the world will marvel at the huge LED ball representing “The Heart of Taiwan” and its lantern screen which projects a wide array of spectacular views of the island that echo one another. The concrete LED ball is constantly encircled by moving virtual images, including thousands of flying butterflies and a deep-sea experience. Taiwan’s creativity, sustainability of nature and local arts are among other stunning themes and visions that the Pavilion will share with the world.....
read more...Taiwan pavilion

Pavilion of Future

Canton Tower in Guangzhou

The world’s second-highest building and its highest television and viewing tower just opened in time for the Asia Games in November 2010 in Guangzhou.


Architects: IBA Information Based Architecture, Amsterdam
Guangzhou Design Institute
Engineering: Arup

Its 610 metres in height and its elegant silhouette promise to turn the Canton Tower (or Guangzhou TV Tower) into the new landmark of this up-and-coming metropolis, and this despite the fact that the competition is stiff: an opera house by Zaha Hadid, open since May; the 440-metre-high Guangzhou International Finance Centre by Wilkinson Eyre and the 310-metre Pearl River Tower with integrated wind turbines by SOM, due to be completed in 2011.

The television tower rests on 24 bored piles of four metres’ diameter. Its dynamic effect is due to a simple geometrical twist: two ellipses, one at ground level and the other 450 metres above, are rotated relative to one another and connected via 24 straight steel tubes, resulting in the feminine waist that confers such elegance to the tower. After several storeys were positioned exactly, the tubes were reinforced with concrete to provide increased stability and fire protection. The open steel lattice structure supports 37 floors of varying heights, housing rotating restaurants, viewing platforms and cinemas; they are connected throughout by an elliptical concrete conduit for lifts, two fire lifts, stairs and shafts. Eight shuttle lifts outside the core connect the individual levels. The spatial effect of the up-to-80-metre-high free spaces between the floors is incomparable, lending the tower its translucence and lightness. The 10,000 visitors expected daily will have the chance to make the leisurely eight-minute ascent through the narrowing and widening of the mesh structure in one of the glass panorama double-decker lifts. There are also plans for glass gondolas for four to six passengers that will glide along the roof edge. Visitors running late for their sunset picture will want to take the express alternative: one of two high-speed double-decker lifts that take only a minute and a half to reach their destination, a 54-by-42-metre roof terrace with grandstand-style steps on which to sit and admire the view of the booming city once known as Canton.

Photo Frank Kaltenbach

Photo: Frank Kaltenbach

The old television tower

Rendering: Information Based Architects, Amsterdam

View from the north: The west-tower of the two symmetric office-towers of Wilkinson Eyre is already built.

Photo: Frank Kaltenbach

Floor plans

The exterior of the tower is characterized by columns and diagonals. The 24 straight columns taper from bottom to top, measuring 2000 mm in diameter and 50 mm in plate thickness at the base, and 1100 mm in diameter and 30 mm in plate thickness at the upper end. The diagonals have a diameter of 880 mm. The interior of the tower is characterized by the steel rings, each tilted by 15°. Each of the 1100 prefabricated nodes follows the same principle, but has its own individual geometry.

Photos: Information Based Architecture

Pictures from the construction site: Frank Kaltenbach, Mai 2010

Canton Tower in Guangzhou - DETAIL.de - Portal for Architecture - texts and interviews of the DETAIL magazine for architects about construction and design