Shanghai Corporate Pavilion's Lights Are Controlled by the People Inside

How do you make a huge pavilion awesome? You create the building out of recycled CD cases. So, what can you do to make that better? You attach a huge LED array onto the outside of that said pavilion, and you make it just about as bright as is probably necessary. But of course, you have to do more than that, because then that's just a building with some lights on it. That happens all the time at Christmas. Thankfully for us, the designers of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion have, indeed, made it better.

When we say that the building is covered by an LED array, we mean the entire thing. The entire facade of the building is covered in these lights, making it look ridiculously impressive at night, as you can see from the images. Additionally, the lights can change, including greens, blues, pinks, and yellows, and this is where the real surprise comes in. There isn't a computer controlling when to change the colors. It's actually the people inside the building.

According to the designers, people that go into the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion are lined up in a queue, and it's there that they are told that their actions have a consequence on how the colors are illuminated on the outside of the building. A collective response from the group, whether that means waving their arms, or clapping their hands, instigates a transition of colors on the outside of the building. On the inside, there's a series of interactive exhibits, before they finally reach the "Dream Cube Control Room," which apparently has another surprise in store for participants, and will also "make them think."

ESI Design, based out of the United States, worked in conjunction with architect Yung Ho Chang to create the entire interactive design, from inside and out, to create one of the most spellbinding buildings on the planet. On top of all the nice little tech treats in store for those who get to make it, the building itself is eco-friendly in many different ways, including solar panels, and a roof that actually collects rain water for future use. Unfortunately, the building is only being used for Expo 2010, and after the expo, the building will be recycled. So, if you're in the neighborhood, you definitely need to check this out.

[via Inhabitat]