Expo '70 Animation

After posting about the Expo '70 Mushballoons, I was alerted to the existence of this great animation featuring Osaka's Expo '70. It's based on a popular Japanese comic strip called Sazae-san.



You can see several iconic structures: the Tower of the Sun, the Mushballoons, and even the Australian Pavilion, whose architect we interviewed on the World's Fair Podcast.

Expo '70's Mushballoons

I'm fascinated by these structures that were in Expo '70's amusement zone, Expoland. The park lived on for decades after 1970 and I'd love to find out whatever became of these structures... and how well they survived in the elements.



The text accompanying the photos says:

"This is called the Mushballoon because it is shaped like a mushroom. The Mushballoons are the centerpiece of the Space of Planets in Expoland. They are elegant and dynamic in appearance.

The huge cushion of air is suspended by 45 strands of wire. The wires are all brought together and connected through a tube to a winch in the basement. When the winch is wound, the mushroom collapses in 15 minutes. The Mushballoons rest at night and bloom again in the morning. The diameter of one Mushballoon is 30 meters, that of another 20 meters, and that of the three others 15 meters.

Architectural Design: Taneo Oki Architects
Structural Design: Shigeru Aoki Research Office"

I found more information (including some cool diagrams) at:
http://www.tensinet.com/database/viewProject/3839.html

Expo '70 Diagram

This great illustration shows the basic layout of the three towers from Osaka's Expo '70: from left to right, the Tower of Motherhood, the Tower of the Sun, and the Tower of Youth.



Seemingly floating through the top of the Tower of the Sun is the space frame that served as a roof for the central plaza of Expo '70. The site is now an empty field with just the Tower of the Sun.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 22: Alfred Heller

In episode 22 of the World's Fair Podcast, writer Alfred Heller is our guest.

Alfred Heller founded World's Fair Magazine in 1981 and has been to 19 world's fairs so far... from 1939 to 2010. He talks about many of those world's fairs and why he thinks world's fairs are still relevant.

Listen to this podcast as an MP3.

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World's Fairs and the End of Progress by Alfred Heller

WorldsFairs.com

Listen to other episodes of the World's Fair Podcast.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 15

In Episode 15 of the World's Fair Podcast, John McGregor continues his trip report from Japan where he visited several expo legacy sites. We also listen to audience questions and feedback, including information on how we can bring a world's fair back to the United States in 2020.

Links:
Australian Memorial Hall in Yokkaichi
Expo 70 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 75 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 85 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 2005 on ExpoMuseum.com

Expo 70 Commemorative Organization
Expo 90 Foundation

Foundation Expo '88's Facebook Page

Expo2020USA.com - site with information about the 2020 World's Fair panel discussion in St. Louis

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The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 13: John's Japan Expo Legacy Trip

In episode 13, John McGregor talks about his recent trip to Japan where he visited several expo legacy sites including Osaka's Expo 70 (shown above).

Links:
Australian Memorial Hall in Yokkaichi
Expo 70 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 75 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 85 on ExpoMuseum.com
Expo 2005 on ExpoMuseum.com

Expo 70 Commemorative Organization
Expo 90 Foundation

Foundation Expo '88's Facebook Page

Listen to this podcast.

Subscribe to this podcast.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 11: Architect James Maccormick MBE

In episode 11, we talk with James Maccormick MBE, architect of the Australia Pavilions at Montreal's Expo 67, Osaka's Expo 70, and Spokane's Expo 74, and one of the forces behind the creation of Brisbane's Expo 88.

1967:
Australia at Expo 67 on Foundation Expo 88
Expo 67 on ExpoMuseum

1970:
Expo 70 on ExpoMuseum

1974:
Expo 74 on ExpoMuseum

1988:
Foundation Expo 88
Expo 88 on ExpoMuseum

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Greetings from Shanghai

This trip has been pretty amazing so far. Unfortunately, it's taken me a few days to be able to access my blog in order to report.



Friday, I was honored to be the guest of the Australian Pavilion for a quick tour around the Expo 2010 site under construction and an amazing look at the Australian Pavilion under construction. It's truly amazing how much creativity and time-consuming work goes into creating a pavilion that likely been in operation for just 6 months, hosting 5 million of the 70+ million visitors expected.

I'm deeply grateful to the folks at Ogilvy PR and World Expo Blog who were able to arrange my visit, Michael Darragh and Lina Han. Our Australian Pavilion host Peter Sams, who I was delighted to find out was a reader of my site and blog, is the pavilion director and veteran of the Australian Pavilion at Expo 2005 in Aichi.

I've posted some photos from the visit at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expomuseum/

Saturday, I played the role of a more traditional tourist and visited People's Park and the adjacent shopping areas. In People's Park, the city has an Urban Planning Museum which, right now, is mostly about their preparations for Expo 2010.

I was rather tickled to see a couple of my photos in an exhibit about the history of expo mascots. It's rather satisfying to see photos of my own world's fair memorabilia collection in a museum on the other side of the planet.

Haibao and ads for Expo 2010 blanket nearly every square foot of surface in this town that's not under construction. As I type this in my hotel room, I can hear the sounds of construction from various places in the city. As with Nagoya and Hannover, which I also visited in the year before their respective expos, the whole city is getting ready and everything seems to have the same deadline: 1 May 2010, opening day of Expo 2010.

I have plans to meet more folks that are working behind the scenes here in Shanghai. It must be thrilling to be working on all the little projects that will come together next year in the largest world's fair in history. I'm reminded of what it must have been like to work on the World's Columbian Exposition the year before: 1892. I find myself pondering what sort of anticipation there was in 1938, the year before New York's 1939-'40 New York World's Fair. In so many ways, I see parallels between Shanghai's Expo 2010 and Osaka's Expo '70. Imagine what it must have been like being a part of putting that together in 1969!

Expo 70

When I was much younger and first learning about the history of world's fairs, two really stood out among the rest for me.

Naturally, the 1939-'40 New York World's Fair had lots to interest a high school student interested in architecture and design. I'd still say, today, that if I could go back in time and visit any world's fair, it would be this one.

However, Expo 70 in Osaka is a really close second place. Later, in architecture school, I'd learn about the Japanese Metabolist movement in architecture and Kenzo Tange, the grandfather of modern architecture in Japan and the designer of the Expo 70 site.

Currently, the site is a park with some of the artifacts of the expo, particularly the enigmatic, iconic Tower of the Sun as well as the amusement zone, Expoland.

City Participation at Expo 2010

China Economic Net published an article today entitled "Cities to strut their stuff at World Expo" announcing that cities will have the opportunity to participate in Expo 2010.

I think this might be an excellent opportunity for San Francisco given its sister city relationship with Shanghai. I've previously created a web site (SFPavilion.com) that proposed something similar.

At Expo 70 in Osaka, San Francisco hosted a pavilion as a result of its sister city relationship with Osaka.