Photos courtesy of All-Russian Exhibition Center.
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| Theme: “New Russia: City and Citizen” |
Design: P.A.P. ER architectural team; FORMIKA LLC; Krasnov Design Ltd. |
| Fabrication: Construction Management Investment Holding Company |
Size: 19,685 square feet |
| Client: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation |
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Exterior Design: Russia’s 2010 pavilion is built on a scale that would impress a czar but enchant a child: 12 chalk-white gold towers 66 feet high with folk-art accents of brass-gold and strawberry-red, all linked to a 49-foot-tall central building dubbed the “Civilization Cube.” Echoing the look of ancient Ural towns dating back 3,000 years, the towers’ upper sections are perforated in a style that morphs them into giant versions of Slavic folk ornaments. Combining the extravagance with whimsy, the designers also arrayed the pavilion towers in a formation taken from Russian folk dances.
Pavilion Summary: Corporate and child-like, the Russian pavilion’s exhibits offer the dreams of children with the discoveries of scientists. Running through the connected towers’ ground level, the exhibit called “The City of the Future Through Children's Eyes” displays scale models made of winning entries from a contest among school children to imagine cities of the future. Colorful as Russian nesting dolls, the children’s designs imagine houses built like dragonflies and classrooms in the shape of turtles. The whimsy becomes wonder at the "New Technologies for Vital Activities — an Exposition of GK Rosatom” exhibit from the state-run nuclear energy corporation. Against a photo backdrop of the world’s largest icebreaker, GK Rosatom staff touts its current project: building the world’s first floating nuclear power station. Attendees who worry that radiation is a mutant-making horror can use an on-site device that shows how much radiation their own bodies naturally emit.
The pavilion’s second story in the Civilization Cube is designed around the works of 20th century children’s author Nikolay Nosov. A wonderland of giant flowers and trees in Crayola hues, the pavilion uses a trio of Nosov’s titles — “The City of Flowers,” “The City of Sun, “ and “The City of Moon” — for its exhibit sections. “Flowers” features innovative technology, while “Sun” focuses on clean energies. Climbing up a spiral staircase to the Cube’s third story, “Moon,” offers visitors a history of human space exploration and the role of Russia’s pioneering cosmonauts.
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