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Avery Associates Architects
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Avery Associates was one of six practices short-listed to design the British Pavilion for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The theme of the expo was "better city, better life" so, as Britain pioneered what is arguably the most successful and most emulated new model for modern urban development (that cities work best when they address the human need for a small scale local identity and a rapprochement with the natural world) the base was covered entirely with planting like the ivy covered walls to the secret garden of Frances Hodgson Burnett. The roof too was landscaped with a variety of British garden types, a rose garden; cottage garden; herb garden etc. and through them a route meandered in the manner of a London park. At the centre of the park there was a lake... and in the lake... an island.
The Island was the allegorical heart of the project. It referred to the 'island nation' and the extraordinary impact that this island has had on world affairs, and to the fabled Isles of the Immortals of Chinese mythology.
The approach to the Island suggested both a journey and a crossing. As the pathway winds out of view, a cooling mist comes up from the water to create a fog, and the disorientation that this generates causes the homogeneity of the crowd to be broken up and individuals to be isolated.
When those leading the queue reach the end and can go no further, the water, previously placid, now bubbles like a choppy sea and then, with a dramatic 'parting of the waves' by the distinguished water artist William Pye, the water recedes to reveal a pathway to the other side. As this happens, the glass walls to the Island open up and the queue crosses into the Pavilion.
Avery Associates Architects © 2009 |
