Designed as part of the EXPO Y150 initiative commemorating the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port of Yokohama, the pavilion is created using inflated, plastic balls.
Located in a warehouse on the Shinko Pier, the Nissan Motors PR project focused on two themes – children and environment on ‘Word Park’ and ‘Pivo Labo’, respectively.
‘Word Park’, a large exhibition space housing 16 giant bubbles ranging from 4.5m to 10m in diameter, accommodates one million messages whirling and dancing around as blue leaves. These bubbles lends the surrounding space its physicality, inviting visitors to playfully navigate through it. With the spheres touching each other at certain points, it provides support and creates a feeling of tension.
The space projects virtual images on the 0.5mm thin membranes that come to life on the round surfaces giving them the aspect of solidity. With natural light streaming in from skylights, and passing through layers of transparent and opaque membranes, it casts and distorts shadows of visitors moving between the spheres and giving the whole space its tone and atmosphere in a hazy mix of projected shapes and shapeless forms.
‘Pivo Labo’, featuring the Nissan PIVO 2 electric car and a video showcase of the company’s environmental practices, stems from Nissan’s vision of a future with clean air. Kids’ seats in ‘Pivo Labo’ are made of recycled paper honeycombs echoing the concept used in ‘Word Park’ where a compact object filled with air populates a larger area.
