Like a Danish city, the Danish pavilion was best experienced on foot and by bike. The exhibition could be experienced in two speeds, as a calm stroll with time to absorb the surroundings and as a dynamic bicycle trip, where the city and city life rush past. This way, the pavilion’s theme Welfairytales (Welfare + Fairytales) re‐launched the bicycle in Shanghai as a symbol of lifestyle and sustainable urban development.
CityLife is located on the former site of Fiera Milano. The fairs primary axis, called Domodossola Axis, was the main pedestrian walkway to the pavilions dividing the site diagonally between Largo Domodossola and Piazza Amendola. This axis is maintained in the CityLife masterplan as a visual connection and further enhanced by the underground metro. BIGs site acts as an entryway to the axis, split in two parts.
The m separation from the bridge was defined as a minimum distance until the building reached m up in the air, after which it could grow back out, allowing BIG to double the floor plate. The Vancouver House emerges from the ground, expands as it rises, appearing like a Genie let out of the bottle. What seems like a surreal gesture is in fact a highly responsive architecture – shaped by its environment.
A series of public programs simultaneously wrap the library on the outside and inside, above and below. Twisting the public program into a continuous spiraling path tracing the library on all sides, creates an architectural organization that combines the virtues of all complimenting models. Like a Möbius strip, the public programs move seamlessly from the inside to the outside and from ground to the sky providing spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and growing city skyline.
The proposal includes upgrades to the planned light rail by extending it to form a regional ring around Oresund connecting similar development areas, and creating a new year development perspective for a cross border region between Sweden and Denmark. Where the Finger Plan from was about connectivity from suburb to center the Loop City is linking a string of highly differentiated urban nodes, universities and working spaces in a center-less metropolitan region around a blue void.