The West Lake International Expo Hangzhou, China

Hangzhou Hall: Typical Water Elements Presenting Unique
Philosophy of Water Control

Serial reporting for the program “Zhejiang Telling You”

Data:2010-04-14

“Coming to World Expo Hangzhou City Hall, you can appreciate the various waters in Hangzhou, taste the unique tea water in Hangzhou, and be provided with special travel vouchers to Hangzhou.” Mr. Zhou Gang, design director of World Expo Shanghai 2010 Hangzhou Practice Exhibition Hall, extended invitations to the world.

“The West Lake Oriented, Charming Hangzhou Established through the Practice of Harnessing Five Waters” Hangzhou Practice Exhibition Hall is one of the highly-ranked Urban Best Practice Areas drawn from 106 city-self-recommended halls as well as some recommended by international organizations. The core design of the exhibition hall is water and life in Hangzhou. Its unique humanism—reading waters, talking about waters, listening to waters, and tasting waters—tells Hangzhou citizens’ stories of living by five waters (the River, Canal, Lake, Sea, and Stream), reveals city governors and people’s wisdom in harnessing five waters and creating quality of life, and interprets the theme of World Expo Shanghai 2010—“Better City, Better Life”.

The Five-Water-Penetrable-Brick Wall

The Hall occupies an area of 400 square meters, using the LOFT style as its space construction. The Five-Water-Penetrable-Brick Wall as the outer wall, it is crystal clear. Into the antehall, it is a screen featuring Calligraphy by the Qiantang River Tidal Bore, various styles of calligraphy, well-known poems, as well as the elegant landscape of Hangzhou. The historical, cultural and scenic Hangzhou is presented in the combination of contemporary means of artistic expression and traditional moulding, as well as advanced video techniques.

“Harnessing Five Waters” Theme Wall

The “Harnessing Five Waters” Theme Wall is the most attended part of Hangzhou Hall. 500 people from all works, traditional residents and the so-called New Citizen in Hangzhou express their feelings and wishes for five waters (the River, Canal, Lake, Sea and Stream). 500 smiling faces indicate the good life of Hangzhou, as well as their expectations for future happiness. A scaffold on top of the wall, expresses a sense of unaccomplishment, and hints that Hangzhou is developing.