Aichi: The New Zealand Pavilion

The New Zealand pavilion was an 18 metre x 18 metre module with a mezzanine floor. It was sited on Global Common 6, adjacent to the pavilions of the other South East Asian and Pacific nations taking part in the expo.

In addition to the main exhibition and mezzanine hospitality areas, the pavilion housed an office, staff room, kitchen and workshop.

Wellington-based Story!Inc put together the creative team responsible for the pavilion's design. Companies involved include architects Warren and Mahoney, digital media producers Oktobor Interactive and HIT Lab NZ, project managers Carson Group and the engineering consultancy Beca.

The pavilion aligned the expo's generic themes with New Zealand's "brand values". It depicts New Zealand as a land of great natural beauty and New Zealanders as creative and technologically sophisticated people.

Visually, the exterior of the pavilion was dominated by a white cloud, representing both New Zealand/Aotearoa and the water cycle which sustains its flora and fauna.

The cloud carried through into the interior of the pavilion, where a wide-screen multiple projection film used the device of a bird's flight across the New Zealand landscape to reveal the natural environment and makes connections between what is happening here and the expo's theme.

At the centre of the pavilion, the cloud condensed and fell onto a 1.8 tonne greenstone (pounamu) boulder from the bed of the Waitaiki creek, by the Arahura River on the West Coast. As visitors touched the stone they touched the ”heart” of New Zealand .

The project was managed by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, with input from the following organisations:

The pavilion was sponsored by the following companies:

New Zealand Expo Pavilion Website

www.expo2005.co.nz

A web site was built to support the pavilion and to provide more information about New Zealand in Japanese and English.  The site was decommissioned in early 2006. 

For more information about New Zealand, see www.newzealand.com (some information available in Japanese).