The Turkish Pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO 2010, a was an award-winning structure designed, overseen, and curated by Ayşen Savaş. Project planning for the pavilion began in 2009, as the work of an international design team, comprised of architects Ignacio Goded, M.G.H. Rubio, Aurora Sanz, Eric Zhong, Genco Berk. The outermost structure of the pavilion, a decorative, red, box-like structure enveloping the exhibition space, perhaps one of the most eye-catching aspects of its design, was inspired by murals found in excavations at Çatalhöyük, and produced in Spain. The interior display areas, were produced with the help of local craftsmen in Shanghai.
The overarching concept of the 2010 Shanghai EXPO was designated "Better Cities, Better Lives," which the Turkish Pavilion explored through several core themes of its own; “Turkey - Cradle of Civilizations," "Anatolia - The Land of Better Cities, Better Lives," and "İstanbul - Two Continents, One City." The pavilion presented a narrative of Turkish history emerging from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, in Southern Anatolia, and expanded its reach through early Seljuk architecture up into contemporary urban themes culminating in a panoramic video of Istanbul. These focus areas were used to showcase early proto-cities as spaces of integrated socialization and design, worthy of reconsideration by today's historians, archeologists, and designers.
The Turkish Pavilion was awarded the silver medal in the category of "theme development," by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).
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Further Reading:
Expo Shangai 2010 Better City: Better Life, edited by Ayşen Savaş. 77-81. Ankara : MiKi Press, 2010.
