Are these built-in-a-day pavilions China's future?
The Broad Pavilion, one of the 17 corporate pavilions at the Shanghai Expo, may not get nearly the amount of attention that any of the international pavilions command, but much more than them, it may represent the future of China.
It's main attribute is that it was built in less than a day - 14 hours to be exact. It uses prefabricated parts and features energy efficient modules and 20% of the materials used by other pavilions of a comparable size. It also managed to minimize site waste (20 to 30% of urban refuse in modern cities, apparently), trimming the overall amount of waste on site to just 1%. Best of all, these prefab parts can be taken apart after the Expo for use somewhere else.
Considering the amount of construction going on in China's cities, and its growing need for almost instantaneous buildings, the Broad Pavilion represents a way to keep up with China's pace with less of the waste. The only problem is (the lack of encouragement for conservation and renovation, notwithstanding)... do they have to be so ugly?
The timelapse (near the halfway point of the video) is pretty cool - I just hope that if this idea catches on, they prefab more designed looking parts. As much energy and materials are saved in the construction of these types of buildings, they aren't going to save the heart of any city if they look so drab.
