The Danish pavilion does not only exhibit
the Danish virtues. Through interaction, the visitors are able to
actually experience some of Copenhagen’s best attractions – the city
bike, the harbor bath, the playground and the picnic.
The bike is a popular mean of transportation and a national symbol –
common to Denmark and China. In recent years, however, it has had a very
different fate in the two countries. While Copenhagen is striving to
become the world’s leading bike city, heavy motor traffic is on the rise
in Shanghai, where the car has become a symbol of wealth.
At the Danish Pavilion, the bike is seen as a symbol of
modern lifestyle and sustainable urban development. The building is designed as a double spiral with pedestrian and cycle
lanes taking you from the ground and through curves up to a level of 12
metres and down again. In this way you can experience the Danish exhibition both inside and
outside at two speeds – as calm stroll with time to absorb the
surroundings or as a bicycle trip, where the city and city life drift
past.
In the heart of the pavilion the guests will find the Harbour Pool.
Children can dapple their feet in the water and thus experience how it
is like to live in a Danish city where the water in the harbour is
clean. In the middle of The Harbour Pool, The Little Mermaid is sitting
exactly as she usually sits in Copenhagen. The original Mermaid is
visiting China as a concrete example of the idea that the Danish
pavilion contains the real experience of the Danish city life.While The Little Mermaid is in Shanghai, her place in Langeline will
be occupied by an art work created by the internationally recognized
Chinese artist Ai Weise who among other things worked as a consultant on
Bird’s Nest, the national Olympic stadium in Beijing.
The pavilion is constructed as a monolithic self-supporting
construction in white-painted steel, manufactured at a Chinese shipyard.
Synthetic light-blue coating used in Denmark for bicycle paths will
cover the roof.
The sequence of events at the exhibition takes place between two
parallel facades – the internal and external. The internal is closed and
contains different functions of the pavilion. The width varies and is
defined by the programme of the inner space. The external facade,
pavilion’s façade outwards, is made of perforated steel. In the evening
time, the indoor activity of the pavilion will be illuminated for
passers-by.
The Danish artist Jeppe Hein has designed a ‘social bench’ that will
run alongside the bicycle lane.
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