Get the best of Domus straight to your inbox!

Horticultural Expo Pavilion

The architecture for the World Horticultural Expo Theme Pavilion in Qingdao, designed by UNStudio, overflows and interacts with the surrounding landscape, responding to the nearby mountains.

The 28,000 square meter Theme Pavilion comprises the main Expo hall, a grand performance hall, a conference centre and a media centre. The architectural design gesture for the pavilion is borrowed from the shape of the Chinese rose – the city flower of Qingdao – and converted into the floor plan layout of the design.

The four pavilion volumes or “petals” are connected by internal and external walkways and frame a central square which becomes a stage for the visitors: a dynamic focal point surrounded by viewpoints on varying levels.

The Theme Pavilion operates as the platform for monthly programmed and seasonally themed activities, featuring flowers in spring, shading in summer, fruits in autumn and greens in winter.

“Rainbow Ribbons” provide the routing and infrastructure for the expo and permeate the surrounding landscape. This colour concept is further reflected in the facade elements which are constructed from vertically folded aluminium panels. The four theme colours (green, yellow, orange and blue) are applied along the lengths of the vertical folds, appearing and disappearing depending on the viewpoint.

Following the World Horticultural Expo 2014 (from April to October 2014), the landscape art themed expo park will become a new venue for eco-tourism, which will shift the focus of Qingdao’s tourism from sightseeing to leisure. Together with the organisers, UNStudio has incorporated a possible future lifecycle into the design of the Theme Pavilion by allowing a transformation of the buildings into a hotel building, accommodating conference and teaching facilities. As part of the design process, the future use of the Theme Pavilion is therefore incorporated into the DNA of the design.