Feeling jaded? Head to New Zealand

Introduction to New Zealand Pavilion

The expo theme, "Better City, Better Life", highlights the new thinking, new technologies and new practices for achieving healthy and sustainable urban living. Aligned with these concepts, the New Zealand Pavilion will follow the theme, "Cities of Nature, Living between Land and Sky".

The aim of the pavilion is to present a welcoming vision of a nation that is striving to bring its cities into a sustainable balance with nature; a country in which natural beauty, the inspiration that it brings, and the lifestyles that it permits, can exist alongside and contribute to a modern and innovative first world economy.

In its form and content the pavilion takes inspiration from the Maori creation story in which the god Tane separated his parents, the Sky and the Earth, to create space both for the natural world and for human beings.

The visitor experience will focus on the constant presence of nature in New Zealand's urban life and the benefits which it brings – in terms of inspiration and the encouragement of innovation in business, art and culture, in our economy, and in our everyday lifestyle.

The location

The expo will be held on a 528 hectare site located between the Nanpu and Lupu Bridges along both sides of the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

The pavilion will be located in one of the prime sites at the expo, close to the host country's pavilion and alongside the enormous theme pavilion. It will be adjacent to the main walkway and will be seen by virtually every visitor to the expo.

The design

The winning tender for the design and build of the New Zealand Pavilion was submitted by a consortium comprised of international project management company Coffey Projects, architects Warren and Mahoney, visitor experience specialists Story Inc, quantity surveyors Rider Levett Bucknall leading garden designer Kim Jarrett, and technical integration company Toulouse Ltd, with engineers Beca joining the team.

The distinctive wedge-shaped pavilion will have a projected capacity of 40,000 visitors per day. It will cover approximately 75 percent of a 2000- square-metre corner site, close to both the China Pavilion and the China Theme Pavilion, and beside the main elevated walkway.

The Pavilion will comprise four visitor experience areas, described below.

Welcome space

The front entrance to the pavilion is a welcoming veranda, a lofty canopy supported by a forest of pillars interspersed with shorter pou (pillars), many of them interactive, providing shelter for visitors watching cultural performances and queuing for entry to the interior.

Cities of Nature

experience Inside the wedge, visitors will walk along a winding ramp that gradually rises up, taking them through a "day in the life" of a New Zealand family in a composite New Zealand city in a natural setting: from the mountains to the sea, past farmlands and bush and back towards the mountains, through a beachhouse, a school classroom and an office building.

The journey will ask the question "what is a ‘better life'?" and give some possible answers in a series of sequences that look at different aspects of our "cities of nature". Each sequence will consist of audio-visual projections, graphics, lighting and set elements.

Garden and wild places walk

Visitors will exit the Cities of Nature experience near the top of the wedge, and will then walk back down towards the veranda area through a garden planted with New Zealand trees and flowers, and making use of sculptural elements, audio and lighting.

VIP experience

An elegant mezzanine hospitality area located on the east side of the pavilion will be capable of hosting up to 40 guests for formal dining, or 80 for cocktail functions. It will also include a separate meeting / dining room for up to 12 people.