Shanghai World Expo 2010 – The Sweden Pavilion

Sweden – home to Volvo, Ikea and Absolut Vodka, one of the top design capitals of the World. I was tempted to visit the Sweden Pavilion due to the country’s cache in cool, functional and attractive designs. The pavilion looked promising from the outside – a rectangular box that has been sliced in a few places to allow views and light to enter the building. The façade is clad in metallic panels with perforated patterns which is popular with many of the pavilions at the Expo. This was my longest wait to get into a pavilion – 1 hour. The mainly Chinese visitors were very patient and orderly, though I did get the occasional elbow from a couple of less patient ladies.

The entrance canopy was quite impressive – a high volume space with a complex crisscross structure of metal beams. An escalator brings you up to the entrance level which is a narrow passage lined with pictures of attractive Swedish personalities. Hanging from the ceiling are some attractive lights. After the passage you are in a smallish hall with lots of large photographic murals. These are done to show 2 pictures from different angles. From one angle you see a beautiful pristine landscape. From another you see the devastation that can be wrought by human activities. A reminder that humans have a big hand in Environmental Degradation. I liked that the message was presented in a low-tech way, more effective compared to a cold LCD screen.

Then you enter into the main exhibition space which is very brightly coloured. At the centre is a bar which looked like a kitchen. The whole place looked like an Ikea Showroom. As for the exhibits, there wasn’t much to look at.

After the main exhibition hall, there was a smaller hall with exhibits of Swedish innovations. Then that was it. You then go down through an escalator to the exit which has a shop and café selling Swedish product. At the exit a Chinese visitor asked the guide “Is that all ?” I kind of had the same thought.

The exit.