Energizing dreams of the future

Editor's Note: Apart from the participation of nations and international organizations, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo provides an opportunity for business entities to demonstrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it relates to urban life. China Daily reporter Wang Zhenghua maps out the first four of 17 corporate pavilions under construction for next year's expo.

Oil Cube

Designed to educate visitors on the crucial need to conserve one of the world's most in-demand natural resources, the Oil Cube, borrowing its inspiration from the Beijing Olympics' Water Cube, will stand as a porous, sponge-like rock formation with the shiny black commodity oozing from it.

"We will focus on a scientific attitude, but apply an entertaining approach to tell the public that oil is not easily obtained, and that we should save the energy resource to protect our planet," said Liu Junjie, deputy manager of the Oil Pavilion.

Amid the cluster of corporate pavilions in the center of the expo garden's Puxi site under the banner of "Oil - Extending City Dreams", the 4,000-sq-m structure will serve as a joint effort between the nation's three oil giants: China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petrochemical Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Inside the pavilion, visitors will be educated on how the various uses of oil affect people's daily lives.

"The experience at our pavilion will be full of fun, where visitors can learn how their lives have been relying on this precious substance for everything from clothing and food to accommodation and transportation," said Liu.

As such, the energy needed to produce a bottle of water will be converted into the equivalent amount of oil to show how much oil is used during the process.

Visitors will also be led into a fictitious world without oil to experience how different life is without it.

Other highlights will include a look at some of the oil industry's latest technology. One model exhibit shows how oil is used to make carbon-fiber gloves that can protect a person's hands from knife cuts.

Dream Cube

The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion is signing an extensive pool of global talent and banking on them to produce a visually explosive peek into the future, using robots to intrigue more crowds than its corporate counterparts.

Intended to portray a futuristic city, the Dream Cube, a collaborative effort between 40 State-owned Shanghai enterprises, has already secured the help of internationally acclaimed designer, author and artist Edwin Schlossberg.

Other big names include multiple Emmy Award-winning director and producer Don Mischer, popular contemporary Chinese literary figure Yu Qiuyu, China's manned-spacecraft engineering designer Zhou Fengguang and Bob Dickinson, whose reputation has been built on his ingenious lighting of television award programs such as the Oscars.

"We already feel the fierce competition coming from 16 other corporate pavilions," said Shi Derong, the Shanghai pavilion's chief producer. "As the pavilion of the host city, our reputation is really on the line here."

As such, much of the pavilion's 300-million-yuan ($44 million) budget will be set aside for hiring the best heads to help reach its goal of ranking as the expo's "top corporate pavilion", said Shi.

Under immense pressure, the pavilion's creative team is praying its three-floor structure will top expectations. It will comprise an elaborately lit elevator and a gallery highlighting the city's modest beginnings from a humble fishing village to modern-day metropolis. Its main attraction will be a miniature city, which will include a theater and a restaurant where visitors will be served by robots.

The Dream Cube is now calling on the public to contribute to a campaign seeking pictures for it to display through May.

The submitted pictures should focus on 10 themes under the banner headlines: What's Your Favorite Part Of Shanghai? Color It Green, A Whole New Angle, How Does Shanghai Celebrate? Make A Portrait, Construct Shanghai's Future, Celebrate Shanghai's Youth, What Flies Over Shanghai? How Do We Communicate? and Outside Eyes.

Participants are invited to upload their pictures or find out more details at expo2010scp.com.

Drive to 2030

With the final bolt added to its steel-framed skeleton last week, the SAIC-GM Pavilion is one step closer to showcasing the future of urban transportation at next year's expo.

Co-presented by two auto giants that produce cars together in Shanghai, the 6,000-sq-m pavilion will feature new automotive technologies while sharing a vision regarding the future of the industry.

"About 20 years ago, China was a kingdom of bicycles," said Jin Lin, director of the pavilion. "Now it has become the largest car-producing and consuming country."

Admitting that drivers are under threat from petroleum dependency, pollution concerns and traffic congestion, Lin said the pavilion will introduce the latest automotive advances that work to reduce the impact of such problems.

Kevin Wale, president and managing director of GM China Group, added that apart from showcasing such technologies, the pavilion will serve as a platform to promote urban mobility.

Referring to the sleek chassis of an automobile, the pavilion will feature smooth, fluid lines as it conjoins 4,000 recycled aluminum panels at various angles.

Meanwhile, technologies such as modeling and emendation will also be carried over from the world of auto construction to form the panels of the pavilion.

Magic Box

Enveloped in hexahedral screens, visitors will be immersed in a realistic and exciting audio-visual feast at the State Grid Pavilion.

In its main exhibition area, which will take the shape of a gigantic cube, a 4-minute multimedia film with the theme of "Journey of Energy" will allow visitors to experience a future world showing the harmonious co-existence of man and nature.

The experience is expected to evoke feelings of "surfing on a huge, crashing wave", according to Hua Bin, an official with the pavilion. It aims to breakdown the nation's complex electricity producing process to give visitors a better understanding of how such energy is derived, he added.

The State Grid Corporation of China, the world's-largest public utility company, will spend 300 million yuan ($44 million) on building the pavilion. One of the displays will detail the history and evolution of how civilization has been influenced by electricity over the years.