| World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pavilion |
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Theme: “For a Living Planet”
Design/Fabrication: Worldwide |
Client: World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund)
Size: 3,500 square feet |
Exterior Design: Featuring the organization’s panda logo, the curved exterior walls display a whimsical, childlike graphic — making it appropriate and eye catching for children, while at the same time reminding adults of their responsibility to future generations. While one side features images of sea turtles, birds, dolphins, and other wildlife, the opposing side features an urban scene complete with illustrated images of houses and families. On the urban side, an image of a blimp “flies” overhead, trailing a banner that reads, “The future of our planet is up to me!”
Pavilion Summary:The World Wide Fund for Nature Pavilion is one of many exhibit-like pavilions at Expo 2010. Unlike larger freestanding country and theme pavilions, the structure representing WWF is housed within a large exhibit-hall-like building called the International Organizations Pavilion.
The pavilion for WWF enlists the ancient notions of Yin and Yang. Aimed at educating visitors about worldwide conservation, the pavilion represents the Yin as human society and the Yang as nature. In this manner, the project illustrates the inner correlation, dependence, and contradiction between human beings and their environment.
Inside the 3,500-square-foot, semi-enclosed pavilion, a floor graphic resembling a winding river snakes through the various displays. Throughout the booth, curved walls feature images of plants and animals along with text explaining the impact humans have on their environment, what WWF is doing to help, and what each person can do to help lessen their own impact (such as taking a shower rather than a bath, and unplugging unnecessary electronic appliances rather than leaving them on standby and wasting precious energy).
At the heart of the pavilion, visitors encounter a large ball-shaped aquarium filled with Chinese sturgeon and other species native to the Yangtze River. During the expo, organizers periodically added new species of fish, ultimately putting hundreds of freshwater fish on display — all of which will be returned to the Yangtze River after the Expo. Nearing the end of their journey, visitors discover a customized carbon-footprint calculator to help them estimate the impact they have on the planet (based on food consumption, means of transport, life choices, energy and water consumption, etc.).
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