'Better life, better city': Venezuelan pavilion at Shanghai expo

Enthusiasm and commitment are the watchwords that the Venezuelan team has adopted as it sets out to prepare its pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Throughout the process, the team has sought to develop a "stand out" presence aimed at bringing the values of the country's president, Hugo Chvez, and his government to a truly multi-national audience.

To ensure a genuinely unique experience for visitors to the Venezuelan pavilion, the team behind it has harnessed the creativity of the country's young citizens and sought to bring their vision of the revolutionary changes re-inventing their South American homeland to life by the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River.

The concept adopted for the Venezuelan pavilion is based on the belief that cities cannot aspire to be truly great places to live until they first address the problems and shortcomings that adversely affect the lives of their citizens.

To this end, the designers behind the Venezuelan pavilion have deliberately reversed the Expo's overall theme of "Better City, Better Life" to "Better Life, Better City" as a means of highlighting the importance of putting the needs of the people before the needs of the city they call home.

At present Venezuela is going through a revolutionary process of social, political and economic change and transformation. This has been driven by an adherence to the concept of inclusion, a belief that any bid for a better life which excludes any member of society is ultimately doomed to fail.

The concepts of plurality, inclusion and citizenry are recurring motifs in the design of the Venezuelan Pavilion, as are aspects of the country's topography in a deliberate bid to demonstrate the many ways national geography can be inhabited.

Structured in the form of an "8" - a symbolic number both in China and Venezuela, with the eight stars of Bolvar recently incorporated into the Venezuelan flag - the pavilion depicts many traditional aspects of Venezuela's history and culture.

These include elements of its colonial inheritance, such as the Spanish fortresses still clearly visible along Venezuela's coastline, as well as its contemporary "Barrios", ramshackle settlements bordering its cities and segregating those who live there from the city proper.

It also acknowledges the legacy of the country's indigenous people, reproducing the style of a number of ethnic residences, such as the "Shapono Yanomami" ("forest villages") or the "Churuata Yekuana" (the traditional homes of the Yekuana tribe).

It also reflects the life style of the country's contemporary rural communities, celebrating the continued co-existence with the natural world.

Nor has it ignored the life experiences of the country's burgeoning numbers of urban dwellers, opting to represent them through the most emblematic public space in any Venezualan city - the Plaza Bolivar, a traditional setting for debates, chance meetings or a deliberate rendezvous.

At its core, the pavilion seeks to offer visitors an insight into the disparate lifestyles of the people of Venezuela. Underpinning this is a belief that, despite the many facets of this progressive 21st century South American nation, its citizenry remains united by a common belief in the need for solidarity, peaceful coexistence, balance and respect for the environment - universal concepts vital for the future of cities throughout the world.

Text provided by the Venezuelan Embassy in China

(China Daily 06/29/2009 page8)