EXHIBITOR MAGAZINE'S WORLD EXPO AWARDS: BEST ELEMENTS

Netherlands

DESIGN: Tellart

FABRICATION: Tellart; RAU Architects

Water, one of the five natural elements, is critical to human life, and it is particularly significant to life in the Netherlands, where the Dutch have learned to adapt to its powerful caprice. Living below sea level has brought both challenges and collaborative opportunities, the latter highlighted at this year's pavilion where the theme of Common Ground — a Dutch concept of problem solving emphasizing shared values — was center stage. The Netherlands seeks not just to channel water away from its cities, but integrate it into the daily lives of its people and unlock its potential.

The 1,157-square-meter space's sustainable construction included a variety of symbolically circular elements, the most dynamic of which was the large central dome whose architecture served as both the medium and the message. Within the pavilion, the exterior dome was revealed to be a sphere, and as visitors streamed past it to discover the experiences inside the pavilion, the brilliant visual illustrated — figuratively and spatially — the force of nature and its life-giving energy. The sun sculpture was representative of a future led by clean, renewable, and universally accessible energy for all, and, coming full circle, its design was inspired by the “Tower of the Sun,” an avant-garde sculpture by Tarō Okamoto for Expo '70.

Upon entering the space, visitors received their own Energy Orbs: hand-held devices that powered a range of interactive installations and hit home the illuminating aspect of immersive storytelling. When guests approached the Orb Check-In Mirror, for example, they placed the orb against the glass and their charged orbs began to glow a vibrant orange that signaled the beginning of the collective adventure at hand. Technology was on full display in the pavilion: Each orb contributed unique elements, shifting from orange to blue to represent individual drops of water and emitting pulses of light that added layers to a sophisticated soundscape created in Max and conceived by Resonate Audio.

By Exhibitor magazine: Linda Armstrong, Sean Carlson, Danelle Dodds, Emily Olson, Nancy Olson, and Charles Pappas