We’ve seen some stunning pavilions at the Shanghai Expo 2010 event: the Saudi’s desert oasis, the U.K.’s bizarre yet thrilling Seed Cathedral (see video footage of it after the jump) and, sadly, the most bland and boring pavilion of them all, the U.S. one which has been labelled by some ‘The Shopping Mall’.

Cruel, but true.

Still, one man’s mall is another’s Taj Mahal and you can now voice your opinion via the Expo 2010 Awards, being run by Exhibitor magazine.

Most awards will be judged by a panel of experts but there is the People’s Choice Award which will be decided by online vote. Other categories – open to those pavilion owners and companies with A/V and other technologies on show in the pavilions – are Best Pavilion, Best Exterior Design, Best Exhibit, Best Use of Technology, Best Activity/Interactive, Best Presentation and Elements and Details.

“This competition is an extremely exciting opportunity for firms specializing in design, interactive technology, fabrication, architecture, live presentations, exhibits, pavilions, and more to gain recognition for the work they’ve done on the Expo 2010 stage,” says Travis Stanton, editor of Exhibitor magazine. “Furthermore, it’s an opportunity for us to spotlight some of the most amazing examples of how design, technology, presentation, and storytelling come together to effectively communicate compelling messages. Those examples will hopefully inform and inspire today’s exhibit and event professionals – along with the next generation of face-to-face marketers. Because whether you’re creating an immense international pavilion or a small 10-by-10-foot exhibit, it’s often about making an impression, and the work on display in Shanghai does that in truly monumental and memorable ways.”

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There’s very few things – except maybe crude oil and coal – that can’t have the word ‘green’ shoved in front of it these days, in order to make it more eco-friendly. Many, sadly, are inaccurate and others are fads.

But when it comes to buildings, green building has become the new wave of construction. And right now, Norway is king of green building for the second year running, according to – take a deep breath now – the 2009 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Global Zero Carbon Capacity Index. Phew.

Their data covers 34 countries and considers criteria such as energy efficiency in homes, offices and transport, alongside national investment in renewable energy and policies to reduce carbon consumption from buildings.

The building sector is responsible for around 40% of greenhouse gas emissions said report author, Yvonne Rydin, who states that the sector has to do more to reduce emissions.

“This is an urgent responsibility for those building new developments as well as those owning, managing and occupier existing ones. Our homes, shops, offices, factories and leisure centres all need to make their contribution to the climate change agenda.”

Brazil secured second spot with the U.K. placing third for the first time. Ironically, this week saw the U.K. announce an early closure of its Low Carbon Buildings Fund to save £3 million – thank you ‘Global Recession’ – so expect the U.K. to slip back down the ranks. Other countries showing improvement in 2009 included France, Germany, the Slovak Republic and, to a lesser extent, the USA.

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The HOK design team certainly like to think so. This is how the winning team envision the revamp of one of the San Francisco’s most treasured historical buildings, the Mint, built in 1874 and survivor of the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire.

It’s now looking at a future as a new  museum and visitor centre for the city.

As you can see, maintaining the character of the original is paramount and the covered courtyard is a clever approach to opening up the inner space to the outside, while showing off the original stonework – much of which will have to rescued from ‘modernisation’ over the years.

Having spent decades pumping out the ‘green’, remaining green will be a key feature of the Mint going forward. The building is a passively ventilated and naturally lit structure that will aim to maintain its openess to the environment after new musuem and visitor facilities have been added.

Interventions act as intermediaries between the exterior environment and internal spaces which require variable degrees of control and comfort.

The largest intervention will be that massive glass canopy roof over the historic courtyard. The will also collect water and fog at its corners to provide natural irrigation for a terraced roof garden. The roof garden will become a new public space also.

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Overlooking the site of the London 2012 Olympics, the new View Tube café is not what you’d normally expect from your local coffee shop. In fact, there are probably very few coffee shops built from old shipping containers and, if there are, they probably don’t look quite as cool as this one. We like cargotecture for a number of reasons and you can find a number of excellent and innovative examples in our previous blog ‘Thinking Outside The Container’.

This is ‘cargotecture’ at its best and it’s the 40^th structure built from old shipping containers at London’s Container City. It was created by Urban Space Management and is two storeys high. Old containers from China were scrubbed out and fitted offsite. It took 3 months to put together and just a couple of days to crane into position.

The whole structure is recycled and it’s green too, with lighting controlled by motion sensors, solar controlled glass, weather compensation controlled heating and low energy light bulbs.

Upstairs there is a large class room and the aforementioned observation gallery overlooking what will be the fantastic looking venue for the London 2012 Olympics. Right now, however, it’s a building site with enough cranes, diggers and builder’s butts cracks on view to put anyone off their panini and latte. More pics of the cafe below.

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It may not be the biggest pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 event but the Arabian City is the most expensive.

This is the Saudi Arabian pavilion, loosely described as a ‘silk road treasure boat’ or more simply the ‘Moon Boat’, which cost a whopping $146 million to construct.

You can definitely see the oasis-style theme to the place which sits amid a ‘happy desert’ with the top deck planted with a hanging garden, complete with water pools and featuring full-grown date palm trees.

There are even tents erected on top to give visitors a chance to experience a little bit of desert life, just without the scorpions.

Chinese and Saudi architects combined to create the pavilion which covers 6,000 square meters.

It’s not all green though as the pavilion also sports the world’s largest 3D IMAX screen. You can forget catching Iron Man 2 on it though as it will only be used for short, cultural films.

See more shots below.

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For the Americas, the gong went to the Bank of America Tower, New York, while Europe’s best was Broadcasting Place, Leeds, England [pictured above].

The Pinnacle@Duxton, in Singapore took the prize for the Asia & Australasia region and Burj Khalifa, in Dubai secured it for the Middle East & Africa.

Check out some photos of the others after the jump.

The winners were chosen “for their design and technical innovations, sustainable attributes, and the enhancement they provide to both the cities and the lives of their inhabitants”.

And which of the four will be picked for the grand prize?

Sadly, you’ll have to wait until October 21 but if they’re giving away any free penthouses, we’ll take two at the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai please.

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Continuing our look at some of the best pavilions at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, we tip our hats to Canada, for producing one of the most entertaining.

Who’d have thought the normally conservative Canadians would hand over the design of their pavilion to a circus?

World famous Cirque Du Soleil, the acrobatic theater troupe, designed this giant letter ‘C’ over three floors to convey the Canadian values of ‘inclusivity, sustainability, and creativity’.

Multimedia plays a key role in this pavilion with a dazzling array of interactive screens and projections bringing the place to life during the day and, particularly, at night. Comprised of 4000 m2 of Canadian red cedar, it’s one of the biggest pavilions on show.

Throw in more 165 dancers, musicians, artists and actors and five special performances by Cirque du Soleil and you have one of the best party pavilions in Shanghai.

Feel free to compare it to the dull and ugly US pavilion.

See more shots below.

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Compared to some of the other pavilions on show at the massive Shanghai Expo 2010 event, the US pavilion is possibly one of the dullest.

Apart from the political controversy surrounding the pavilion, which has been dubbed  ‘The Shopping Mall’, thanks to the drab looks and all of the corporate advertising and logos indoors, the design is flat and uninspiring. Try comparing it to…..

…..the UK’s outrageous Seed Cathedral or Denmark’s curving Little Mermaid pavilion.

Sure, corporate America had to pony up $60 million just to get a US pavilion at the event but did it have to look like the offspring of a mall and a car dealership?

Even Hilary Clinton, who spear-headed the fervent fund-raising last year, seemed less than enthusiastic about it when she went to visit it for the first time last month. When asked about this supposed showcase for American architecture and ideals, she simply said: ‘It’s fine’.

Although, as you can see from the photo below, she seemed really excited with the Doublemint logo, just before being mobbed by the Expo’s mascots.

So, people, US pavilion: Good or Dud?

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When you see the words ‘clinic’ and ‘Las Vegas’ appearing the same sentence you’d be forgiven for thinking another gambling addiction clinic has opened for business.

Instead, we have the marvellously eccentric new Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health by design’s ’starchitect’, Frank Gehry. Love it or hate it [we love it] the new clinic will certainly stop people in the street, if only to help them make sure that the building isn’t melting.

It’s already dividing critics between those who believe it’s a fantastically innovative and jaw-dropping piece of design to those who believe it’s hopelessly derivative of earlier work and those who believe Gehry = Garish.

See what the LA Times reviewer said after the jump.

“The two sides of the Ruvo Center stand in clear opposition to each other. It’s tempting to assume that they represent the classic left-brain, right-brain dichotomy: the office wing is rational and contained, the auditorium free-flowing and fantastical. One side is a written score, the other an improvisation.

This gap also seems to suggest the divided loyalties of architects, who have to pay equal attention in their work to practicality and creativity, order and desire. Gehry, in particular, makes use of an approach to design that shifts between the analytical and the fully intuitive.

But the more time you spend walking from one side of the building to the other, the more it becomes clear that its symbolic aims are deeper and richer than that. The sensibilities of each section seem to have seeped into or infected the other.”

OK, he likes it.

What’s your take? More shots below.

[LA Times]

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For the first time ever, Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue has left Denmark for its new, albeit temporary home, at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

It is to be the center piece at the striking Danish pavilion at the Expo, which is home to some of the most interesting and cutting edge architectural designs from almost 200 nations.

See a video of the the Little Mermaid’s unveiling at the pavilion after the jump.

The Little Mermaid takes pride of place in the ‘Welfairytales’ pavilion, an interactive pavilion designed  by architecture firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). The pavilion sets out to give visitors a glimpse into life in Denmark by including things like the city bike, the harbour bath, rooftop picnics and a chance, of course, to see the original, statue of H. C. Anderson’s Little Mermaid.

To top it off there are 300 free bikes for visitors to use while inside the traffic loop pavilion.

The Danish pavilion may not have the ‘out-there’ appeal of the UK’s ‘Seed Cathedral’ but it’s proving a hit with the visitors. More shots below.

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