Swiss Pavilion

The Expo sub theme of “rural-urban interaction” and its significance for Switzerland

There is a strong awareness in Switzerland of the importance of an intact interaction between the urban and rural worlds, given the country’s geographic situation. Switzerland is facing up to the challenge of sustainable urban development, taking in solutions for the protection and maintenance of the natural habitat, while at the same time improving the conditions for living in the urban environment.
The interaction between the urban and rural spheres can be compared with the theory of yin and yang in our host country, China, according to which all the elements are in a permanent dynamic balance with one another and complement one another. A free-flowing and healthy interaction between the two poles is the fundamental precondition of a sustainable and harmonious development respecting the equilibrium with ecological, economic and social aspects.

Architectural bridges between the urban and rural spaces

The symbiosis between the urban and rural environments is also embodied in the architecture of the Swiss Pavilion. The design created by Buchner and Bründler Architects of Basel presents a hybrid construction of technology and nature, uniting city and countryside and maintaining a balance between them. The building’s fundamental structure is comprised of a generously dimensioned roof covered in vegetation and two load-bearing cylinders. The space under the roof and the two cylinders inside the pavilion constitute the urban space. The impression of this urban space is deliberately amplified both physically and acoustically, and further weight is added to the impression by the flow of visitors, who are guided through the pavilion up and then down a system of spiral ramps in the shape of a double helix.Acting as both a complement and a contrast to this is the roof with its mildly undulating topography and its vegetation cover, represented as an open, tranquil landscape flooded with light. The element providing the link between the two spaces is the chairlift. It transports the visitors up out of the heaviness of the city into the lightness of nature and then back again..

The exhibition elements in the official Swiss Pavilion

Interactive intelligent façade
The interactive and intelligent façade of the official Swiss Pavilion shows in a playful manner how much unused energy there is all around us.
The façade surrounds the pavilion like a woven aluminium curtain, which the visitors walk through at four points during their tour and which they can enter in the urban space on the pavilion’s ground floor. Large polycarbonate discs with a diameter of  approximately 20 cm are fastened to the curtain’s mesh. Each element in the façade contains an energy generator, a storage medium and an electrical load in the form of an LED. The energy produced is rendered visible as white flashes, which are triggered to react to pavilion’s changing surroundings, such as the sunshine and flashes from visitors’ cameras. In
this way, the energy enfolding the official Swiss Pavilion is visualised directly, and the visitors are made aware of its existence. Given that each cell is autonomous, the system is subject to a certain degree of unpredictability, which is expressed in patterns of flashes created by chance. The façade remains active to some extent even at night, thanks to the energy storage devices in each of the
individual cells.