Expo 2010 Shanghai China Expo 2010 Shanghai China
Theme: Cities of Nature: Living between Land and Sky
Highlights: Maori Creation Story
National Pavilion Day: July 9
Pavilion Area: Around 2,000 Square Meters
Location: Within Zone B of the Expo Site
Legend has it that the god Tane separated his parents, the Sky and the Earth, to create the world we live. This Maori creation story will be brought to the World Expo 2010 by the New Zealand Pavilion under the theme "Cities of Nature: Living between land and Sky". Wedge-shaped, the 2000-square-meter pavilion extends the story into a three act play – the welcoming space (plaza), the interior, and the roof garden.
A "Cities of Nature" experience in the pavilion where visitors will be taken through a day in the life of a composite New Zealand city starts from the sea, through the suburbs, the city center and out toward the mountains; various themes will overlap in this -- the progression of the day from dawn to dusk, from children to adults, New Zealand's majestic scenery, New Zealanders as multi-cultural, vibrant and creative.
The welcoming space in front of the pavilion is a physical manifestation of Rangi and Papa. The white canopy in the plaza representing Sky is supported by white pillars that represent a vertical forest. It is erected on the forecourt that symbolizes Earth.
When dawn breaks, a little girl dreams of Sky and Earth in her bedroom at Auckland Harbor. Visitors will see her mother making breakfast in a beach house, the girl drawing her dream at school, her father at work and finally the child showing her parents and grandparents her drawing of the creation story. This "day-in-the-life" journey is beautifully complemented by a rhythm soundtrack across the entire interior of the pavilion and melody soundtracks along each of the five stations.
In the roof garden, visitors will find plants native to New Zealand, such as ponga (tree ferns) and Pohutukawa tree, or walk along a thermal lake, common in the Rotorua region of New Zealand. Mist, steam, and air cannons will create the illusion of hot water bubbling in the thermal lake, which is from the korokoro (throat) of Ruaumoko, the youngest son of Rangi and Papa and the god of the underworld, according to the Maori myth.
Visitors can touch a 1.8 ton pounamu (jade) boulder that stands for the heart of New Zealand. The pounamu symbolizes the convergence of two jade cultures, as the Chinese and indigenous Maori of New Zealand share a common reverence for jade.
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