Compact Site Design, Like a Tiered Osechi Serving Box.

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Byline: Harada Shizuo

This is probably the easiest way to describe the characteristics of the site design for the 2005 World Exposition, being held in the Nagoya Eastern Hills district of Aichi, Japan. While the elevations in the site vary by 40 meters (the height of a 10-story building) and the main Nagakute site is just 158 hectares (compared to the Shanghai EXPO site of 580 hectares), about half the site is covered in lush green space and ponds, which we decided to preserve.

Since ecologically important flora and fauna inhabit the site, there were various planning requirements to protect this valuable habitat. Using the site planning restrictions to our advantage, our concept for the Global Commons and Global Loop was born from the desire to create a type of site that had never been conceived before.

Based on the notion that the EXPO is just borrowing the site for six months, we wanted to avoid any grandiose development. We decided to locate the official pavilions of the participating countries on the existing facilities such as athletics ...