World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will be a world celebration. Located in the core area within the Expo Site, the intersection of North-south and West-east axes, the China Pavilion will display the hospitality of the host nation and the magnificent character of a great country.

As one of the most important pavilions of the host country, the China Pavilion that carries the desire for the sci-tech development and social progress of the Chinese nation will present "Chinese wisdom in urban development". Obviously, the design scheme of China Pavilion has condensed a lot of Chinese elements which in turn show a flavor of modern times.

"Like a sculpture? You are right. China Pavilion is like a Chinese-style sculpture in a city garden."

Sitting before two large effective drawings of the China Pavilion, Academician Mr. He Jingtang introduced his works to the reporters in high spirits, "Like a sculpture? You are right. China Pavilion is like a China-style sculpture in a city garden."
He Jingtang, an about-70-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the Architectural Academy of South China University of Technology, is the chief architect of the joint team for World Expo China Pavilion Project. Since the opening of the China Pavilion on December 18, 2007, he would come to Shanghai to stay for a few days each week for the coordination work. Right outside the windows of the China Pavilion Project Office is the bustling worksite.

After the design scheme had been optimized, the layout concept of the "Regional Joint Pavilion as the building pedestal and National Pavilion as urban sculpture" was determined. Layer-based and overhanging and splendid and resplendent, the China National Pavilion rises above in the middle to constitute the main structure of the "Oriental Crown". Fledged by the Crown and setting off the National Pavilion with its unfolding pedestal platform, the Regional Joint Pavilion spreads horizontally, taking the form of a solid space with multiple tiers for public activities. The whole layout of the National Pavilion and Regional Joint Pavilion implies the union of Heaven and Earth and the flourishing of everything, which is the understanding of "Heaven" and "Earth" among the oriental philosophers. The National Pavilion and the Region Joint Pavilion match perfectly, one is up and principal and another one down and subordinate, each doing its part. And led by the North-south axis in space, a grand urban space series has taken shape, presenting a unique landmark-building complex.
In the eyes of Mr. He Jingtang, the building complex has incorporated such Chinese philosophical ideas as the "Heaven-and-Man Combination", "Harmony and Symbiosis" and "Nature Is the Most Important Guideline". No matter whether you like it or not, you know it is Chinese in nature at first sight. Different people have different thoughts. Some said it is like a Dougong bracket in roof structure, some said it is like an ancient crown or a rice basket, so some people named it "The Oriental Crown" or "The Chinese Barn".

From the effect drawing you can see it is made up of large steel structures, its outline is like a Doukong bracket and the whole structure is like a traditional Chinese wooden building. And if you focus your eyes on the four core cylinders in the lower part, it is like a large four-leg caldron with a cascade and an overhanging structure, rising in the middle. Using China Red has made the image more outstanding.

 
"What does an open China use to have a dialogue with the World? We must use modern architectural language to communicate."

Song Chunhua, Chairman of the Architectural Society of China said, "World Expo is also an exposition of World architectures. In a sense, we will present China National Hall as China's first works for the coming Expo. As a participant in the previous World Expos, China didn't leave a strong impression of its pavilions. The only impression was glazed tiles and several big lanterns without innovation."

Huang Jianzhi, Vice Director General of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination commented: the "Oriental Crown" is characteristic of China at first sight. With the Dougong bracket and the 56 columns standing for 56 nationalities, it will strongly impress the visitors with the Chinese elements; engraved on the surface of the building are the nine--folded scripts whose content can be the short names of China's provinces.

Mr. He Jingtang said: What does an open China use to have a dialogue with the World? We must use modern architectural language to communicate. We also want to set up an architectural language system characteristic of the modern times when designing China Pavilion, which has been a common goal of the Chinese architects including me. China Pavilion has a modern space effect by employing three-dimensional technique and creative conversion to the traditional elements. The 33-meter space of the total 63-meter National Pavilion is completely hollow. The centrosymmetric space and the smoothly-extending space of the Regional Joint Pavilion will provide visitors with full open venue for free intercommunion. The openness and publicity are also the key concepts of the international architectural design.

The spatial combination order of China Pavilion is made up of such two parts as "compass" and "circuit" originating from the prototypes of traditional Chinese urban architecture.

The "Compass" originated from the ritualized space of the traditional architecture. In the Centro symmetric space mode symbolizing nature, human's walking is arranged inside so as to make the single space evolve into the spatial sequence with arrangement and advancement, and this is the origin of spatial order in the Palace Museum.

And the "circuit" idea originated from the non-ritualized space. People's experiences through vision, hearing and so on have endowed the out-of-order natural hills and water with structural order, thus subliming the natural space into the controllable humanistic nature, and this is the origin of the spatial order in the South-China-style gardens.

The China Pavilion Scheme incorporates the above two modes and arranges different human activities between the Centro symmetric space of the National Pavilion and the smoothly extending space of the Regional Joint Pavilion. "We aim to present‘Environment Declaration by virtue of architecture.'"

The theme of Shanghai World Expo is "Better Life, Better City". While in the process of urbanization, handling environmental problems remain a tough task. To make the urban life better, we have to take into account the sustainable development of the city.

The design of the China Pavilion must embody the theme of World Expo and take into account the environmental problems. "We attached extreme importance to the environment and energy issues in designing the China Pavilion. We have established a set of environmentally protective and energy-saving systems with a view to expressing‘Environment Declaration' by virtue of architecture." stated Academician He Jingtang.

This system is made up of four parts:

Firstly in terms of planning and integrated conformity, the China Pavilion must echo other surrounding Expo buildings, namely the echo of one axis and four pavilions. Try to make it close to World Expo Axis so that partial equipment resources of the China Pavilion and the other themed Pavilions can be shared and coordinated. Secondly in terms of designing the form and structure of the buildings, we try to enable the single building to reduce pollutants discharged by itself. The overhanging National Pavilion will ward off the sunshine effectively in summer, with the upper tier sheltering the lower tier. The outer corridor of the Regional Pavilion is a semi-outer glass corridor that will supply the Pavilion with a warm temperature in winter and cool air in summer by virtue of passive energy-saving technology; and the "China Pavilion Garden" on the rooftop of the Regional Pavilion will have effective heat insulating facilities by means of such technologies as ecological agricultural landscapes. Thirdly on the technological level for the surface area of the structure, the possibility of applying new energy technology is taken into account. For example, all the window glass is low energy consuming and double-glazed. And at last on the design level for landscapes, self-cleaning is considered. The examples are the rainwater collecting system on the roof of the National Pavilion and wetland technology for the sidestep waterscape on the south side of the Regional Pavilion and the Garden design on the south side. With self-cleaning ability, the artificial wetland will save more land and provide the partial urban area with ecology-friendly landscapes.

"Although the framework made of red steel structures in China Pavilion is derived from traditional wooden frame structure, its large size and span still embodies the achievements of modern science and technology."

In layout of the World Expo, China Pavilion enjoying the advantageous location for hosting country–is close to Huangpu River and located at the center of sight crossed by the axes from the north to the south and the east to the west. Its size also is much larger than other pavilions. Following the end of World Expo, other countries national pavilions will be removed according to regulations, but the China Pavilion will be retained as permanent building.

The China Pavilion is designed with tridimensional structural methods makes an innovative interpretation for traditional elements and creates a flowing space effect. The design is equipped with open and public modern concepts to shape a landmark site in the city and construct a multilevel public city space system from the ground of the square to the roof of the building.

He Jingtang said, although the framework made of red steel structures in China Pavilion is derived from traditional wooden frame structure, its large size and span still embodies the achievements of modern science and technology. Its interior space features with transparent and dynamic characteristics. These designs, for example, the natural lighting atrium, the three level platforms comprising of the city square on the ground, 13 meters high local pavilion--Chinese garden and 63 meters high sightseeing platform constituting, make the city space be more public and open. Following the implementation, the China Pavilion will attract more and more people by its comfortable and friendly features. It will not only provide leisure and relaxing premises to tourists and citizens, but also become the landmark venues for hosting various ceremonies and promotional activities, and a showcase of harmonious humanistic care.

He Jingtang said, "The design of China Pavilion is updated everyday." It is reported that, with respect to the visiting route in China Pavilion, a current concept is to set up a circular sightseeing cable car at the garden platform on the roof of the building, and the detailed position and passenger volume is to be determined.
It is predictable that the China Pavilion will attract a lot of visitors. In order to solve the traffic problem and release the pressures, the designers place their focus on the four pillars with a diameter of 18.6 meters each. In addition to supporting the top Douguan, these four pillars also have many functions. Each pillar is provided with three elevators. The sufficient space for visitors' traffic can be calculated and planned only through conducting a considerate study, taking all the related issues in terms of traffic and firefighting into consideration, and designing the internal structure elaborately.

After the Expo, the National Pavilions of the other countries will be dismantled as a rule, but China Pavilion will be retained as a permanent building....

Time will test any building without a bit of prejudice.

We hope that the "Oriental Crown" or the "Crown of the East" by the Huangpu River will farthest exhibit Shanghai's broad mind which is as receptive as the ocean, proudly witness the grand occasion of World Expo 2010 Shanghai China and permanently serve as a Chinese stage oriented towards the world.