There was once upon a time I went to the shanghai expo site. The Chinese pavilion was still open and crowded with tourists. The queue for getting into the Chinese pavilion was 3 hours long. Other closed pavilions filled in loneliness and some were under demolishing progress.
I decided to not queuing up for an indoor ticket and wasting 3 hours. Instead, I just looked at the Chinese pavilion behind its fence, from far away.
I also visited some other pavilions, which now is quiet, covered with dust, protected by steel fences, and waiting for demolitions. There was hardly anyone around them apart from a few cleaners and construction workers.
I felt the experience of expo site visit were different from all my other architectural trips. I do not know how should I express or appreciate those buildings. They have been isolated by the security fences, separated from the rest of city and sealed off with the expo boundary. The planning, or design, or security control is properly closed the building from any possible ways of communicating with people. The pavilions are not part of the urban environment of shanghai city nor even fit into their surroundings.
The pavilions are fancy, rare, and cool in terms of their appearance, looking awesome on their own. They do not serve any general purpose of the city or their citizens. The pavilions are built on the urban surface, but do not belong to the urban contents. pavilions are the legend of tourism, attracts many travelers from the whole China as well as all over the world.
The pavilions are sculptures, but not architecture. Architecture belongs to a city, enriches its urban content, and serves the general interest of a group of people. Architecture is classified by daily life and culture. Even through sculptures and architecture sometimes shares the same effort, time and craftsmanship. Sculptures also have its linkage to city, people and culture, but merely providing an expression of them. However, it lacks the essential value of communication between the city and people.
其他关闭的世博馆。 它们沉浸在寂静和中国特有灰尘覆盖中, 也用铁栅栏围着, 偶尔会看见世博园的建筑工或者清洁工在旁边休息或者工作着。 Some other pavilions, which now is quiet, covered with dust, pro ...
铁栅栏排成的去中国馆的排队通道, 绵绵长长上千米。 把它放在中国城市的任何地方都会有同样的效果。 它不能体现上海本地的生活。 The steel bars guiding the long queue to the inside of Chinese pavilion. ...
这条路体现了上海城市的面貌, 代表了上海人的生活。 它是城市的一部分, 是上海生活的一部分。 The street represents of daily city life of shanghai. It is part of the city. It is life of the city.
作者: t5ck 时间: 2011-6-17 11:17:27
its 2 totally different atmosphere, the pavilions are design to a scale that is not human-scale, it is not connect to people apart from it jst being an attraction to go once in a yr, prob even once in a lifetime. while the street, its essential part of human life, people go there becoz they need to and want to, its vibrant with urban life, all design to human-scale that is not too large (like the pavilions) or small for people to feel uncomfortable
the enclosure of the street by the building and the barrier from the road, compare to the open nature seen in the pavilions, you feel much more comfontable to occupy within the street, while u feel lonely outside the pavilion, u feel bored and doesnt want to stay there